Wausau, Wis. ? Fresh cranberries were easy to find to complement a Thanksgiving Day feast, but they may not be as plentiful for the Christmas holiday, growers say.

“Buy two, freeze one – the old motto,” said Tom Lochner, executive director of the Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Assn.

About 45,000 acres of cranberries are grown each year in the United States, primarily in Wisconsin, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington and Oregon.

Wisconsin, the nation’s leading cranberry-producing state, harvested an average crop this fall, but yields were down in Massachusetts and Washington, leading to concerns of tighter fresh fruit supplies next month, particularly in areas outside the Midwest, Lochner said.

“There could possibly be a shortage for the Christmas holidays,” said Ray Habelman Sr., co-owner of Habelman Brothers Co., which grows 650 acres of cranberries near Tomah.

About 25 percent of the consumption of fresh cranberries, sauces and juices in the United States takes place between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Lochner said.

Jacob Ryan, left, and Trent Lueck use rakes to harvest cranberries in this Oct. 14 photo in Pittsville, Wis. Wisconsin is the nation's leading cranberry-producing state. Smaller-than-average harvests in some states may squeeze supplies of the fresh fruit next month, but processed cranberry products should still be plentiful.

Wisconsin’s 250 growers harvested about 3.3 million barrels of cranberries, about the same as a year ago, but about 10 percent below some early projections that proved too optimistic, he said. A barrel is 100 pounds.

Prices for the fruit have rebounded from $8 to $12 a barrel a few years ago to $25 to $30 a barrel. They are still far below the $65 average of 1998, Lochner said.

“I think generally growers are in pretty good spirits,” he said.

Nodji VanWychen, co-owner of Wetherby Cranberry Co. in Warrens, said her farm harvested an average crop of good quality.

“I guess that’s all we can expect,” she said. “We did have difficulty on color on the fruit this year because we didn’t have any cold evenings in the month of September, which starts the cycle of turning red.”

Still, planners of holiday feasts need not fret too much, the grower said.

“If you are not able to find the fresh fruit, there’s lots of variety of cranberry products that are made that can be easily used at the holidays,” she said.