Business Journal

by Nancy Norton

Dec. 2000

MIDDLEBORO - Up until ten years ago, the only thing Hal Brown really knew about cranberries was that they tasted good.

Nowadays, though, the self-proclaimed "unlikely farmer" has learned on the job and earned a reputation as one of the region's most knowledgeable and informed sources in the cranberry industry.

Brown, whose wife Betty farms 38 family-owned cranberry bogs in Middleboro, has become known as "the voice of the bogs" by the region's smaller cranberry growers.

The Michigan native is the publisher of "Cranberry Stressline," a novel site on the World Wide Web that has attracted the attention of cranberry growers and others involved in the cranberry farming industry across the state, the region, and even the entire country.

The site is chock-full of information, including news updates, trends and articles relating to the cranberry industry. It also offers up a chat room-styled forum for folks in the industry to compare notes and share news and information.

Though not a profit-making venture, his Internet site has made him an area celebrity and filled a kind of fantasy for the 56 year-old Brown, a practicing marriage counselor and occupational stress therapist.

"I really don't know anything about farming. I consider myself an industry observer," Brown said in a recent interview.

On his Web site, Brown also refers to himself as a "babe in the bogs" who may not know much about growing cranberries, but does "know about interpersonal dynamics, handling stress, the salutary effects of being able to take things in stride, and not taking yourself so seriously that you can't laugh at your mistakes."

Though she remembered being around the bogs during her childhood, Betty Brown, a reference librarian at the Middleboro Public Library who holds a Ph.D. in American literature, started farming from scratch, learning by doing and becoming involved with the network of growers who operate in the region.

"For the hell of it," Brown says, he began posting photographs and sharing information about his experiences as novice cranberry growers. "The Unlikely Farmers: The Librarian and the Shrink," as Brown titled the page, was the start of what would soon become a forum for issues and news in the cranberry industry worldwide.

"At the beginning I took a lot of criticism for admitting to making mistakes," Brown recalled.

But rather than dissuade him, the criticism sparked yet another idea^- for Brown. "Being criticized for admitting mistakes struck a nerve. After all, that's what therapy is all about," he said.

Brown called up a past experience as a writer to feed the expansion of the Web site. For years, Brown worked as a reporter, writing articles for a now defunct magazine called "Police Log" in Michigan about overcoming the stress inherent to police work. "When the criticism started to come, I realized that all the police stories I wrote could be easily adapted to the stress that is related to making your living in the cranberry industry," he said "I thought it could be helpful."

Brown hasn't stopped since he first posted those first photos and stress-related articles on the Internet.

"Now I spend up to five hours a day updating the site," he said.

And though he doesn't get paid for his work, business for the Cranberry Stressline is booming.

With the cranberry industry in crisis this year, there is no lack of issues to talk about. Area growers have been faced with losses of $15 per barrel and upwards due to what Brown claims is a surplus of the zesty fruit that has driven costs down.

Brown's personal connection with Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. and its grower-owned cooperative - of which Betty Brown is a member - has provided almost endless fodder for information and draws hundreds of hits to the site daily.

Lately, Brown is spending countless hours keeping up with trends in the industry, tracking prices and reporting on legislative action to appropriate emergency funding to aid cranberry farmers.

Brown also prides himself on developing a network of professionals who clue him in to breaking news about Ocean Spray, the largest producer of canned and bottled juice in the world.

"Colombo has always been my favorite television personality. And in practicing therapy one always tries to get to the meat of an issue. I think I have a knack for investigating to get to the truth of things," he said.

Brown's most recent quest is tracking the happenings at Ocean Spray, particularly in light of the current industry crisis and its impact to independent local growers like he and his wife.

He has been especially critical of Ocean Spray and the tact that its management has taken to disseminate information about issues ranging from management changes to rumors that the company plans to sell off the cooperative.

His pursuit to discover and publicize information of the Cranberry Stressline that the cooperative "would rather not air" has made Brown controversial.

"I believe that Ocean Spray could have much more information out there than they do," said Brown.

"Lots of people are reading information on the site," Brown said. "Everyone's trying to stay afloat."

Meanwhile, Brown said he plans to continue writing as long as their are issues to be brought to the public.