MIDDLEBORO - Technology is helping cranberry growers become aware of the changes taking place in their industry.

"It's like a virtual doughnut shop," said Brown, whose wife, Betty, is a reference librarian in Middleboro and a grower for Ocean Spray. "Each town has a place where growers come in. What this does is bring them altogether."

It has become a way for growers to connect. "This is giving us the chance to talk to growers from across the country," said Middleboro grower Linda Rinta. "We have never been so well informed. Farming isn't an industry where you go to work and have water-cooler talk, or discuss what's really bothering you."

Brown, a psychotherapist and rural mental health therapist, began the Cranberry Stressline Forum in February 1999.

"It began as a farm-stress Web site, but I changed the focus after the annual meeting of Ocean Spray in February when management gave a very upbeat and rosy picture of the cranberry industry."

Following the meeting, the board of directors met and growers were told prices would be reduced because of oversupply and competition.

"At the time I felt we were deceived, like this was wrong," he said. "My goal is to help educate." Brown said marketing mistakes and mismanagement by top officials at Ocean Spray over the past two years have contributed to problems being experienced by growers. Brown said a failure to recognize the demand for 100 percent juice soon enough and problems with a new computer system also hurt profits.

"Here we have a surplus of berries, and the computer system isn't getting the product where it should be," he said. "It took another bite out of the grower's market."

Brown said at first critics referred to his Web site as "odd and misguided."

"The hits doubled overnight," he said. Since then, Brown said his site is being taken more seriously.

"People are hungry for information," he said.

At the Middleboro-Lakeville headquarters of Ocean Spray Inc., spokesperson Christopher R. Phillips said he is familiar with the Web site, which at times is openly critical of°Ocean Spray' management decisions.

"It's understandable that people will voice their concerns," Phillips said. "It's more than a business - it's a way of life."