(Bloomberg) — With cranberry prices at the lowest in a halfcentury, Nodji Van Wychen has been forced to cut back onfertilizer, staff and pollinating bees just to keep her farm goingnear Pittsville, Wisconsin. Other cranberry growers are finding iteasier to sell the farm to John Hancock Life Insurance Co. and itsever-expanding agriculture group.

"We pretty much cut everything in half," the third- generationfarmer said from her home at the family’s 110-acre marsh northwestof Milwaukee. It’s the worst environment she’s seen since 1959 whenfarmers dumped their entire crop amid a health scare. Van Wychendoesn’t want to sell the operation, but admits the future ofcranberries may not include family growers. "There are many smallerfarmers that are finding that they literally cannot make it," shesaid.

As cranberry season reaches its zenith over the Christmasholiday, farmers are increasingly selling family-owned cranberrybogs — the large tracts of wetland where the bobbing red fruit grow— to larger operators. One buyer name that reigns in these parts isJohn Hancock, whose agricultural investment group is activelylooking for distressed cranberry operations to add to its $2.5billion in assets.

"Right now the cranberry industry is under pressure," OliverWilliams, president of the agriculture unit, said by phone fromBoston. "We can find a cranberry farm that needs to be rejuvenated,has to be replanted, we can go in and buy that property. It’s thetypical supply-demand response." The investor group has about 150employees, most of them farmers.

Employees at the unit of Toronto-based insurer ManulifeFinancial Corp. are in constant conversation with other farmers,scoping out opportunities such as the 180-acre cranberry bog inWisconsin the company bought in September. It’s now part of the2,300 acres of cranberries that it manages for pension funds andother institutional investors, among 300,000 acres of other assetsthat include walnuts, corn and wheat across the U.S., Australia,and Canada.

Agriculture is a long-term investment, letting Hancock withstandperiods of low returns for clients with decades-long liabilities.The average annual return on Hancock Agriculture’s portfolio forthe last decade was 14 percent, compared with 7.5 percent for theStandard & Poor’s 500 Index.

"It’s not about where is the industry today?’ but ‘do youbelieve in the industry long-term?’" Williams said.

Industry is reeling

The $3.55 billion industry is still reeling from 2013, when arecord 8.8 million barrels of cranberries was harvested in theU.S., an 11 percent jump from the prior year, according to theCranberry Marketing Committee, the industry group that promotes theberries. The bright red fruit flooded the market, pushing downprices as low as $8 per 100-pound barrel, from about $40 in 2010,according to the Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association. Itcosts about $30 a barrel to produce. Last year’s harvest came in at8.1 million barrels, the second-highest ever.

About a dozen marshes were abandoned in 2015, where farmerssimply declared bankruptcy and walked away, according to MichelleHogan, executive director of the Cranberry Marketing Committee.About 30 farms have been sold nationwide, with about half inWisconsin, she said.

"It’s going to be a rough ride for the next few years," said TomLochner, executive director of the commodity’s association inWisconsin, the U.S. state that produces more than half the world’ssupply of cranberries. Aside from overproduction, farmers facestagnant local demand as Americans still think of cranberries as aholiday fruit, eating a third of the harvest over Thanksgiving andChristmas.

The average American consumes about two pounds of cranberries ayear, relatively unchanged for at least a decade, as cranberriescompete with other healthy fruits including pomegranates. Sofarmers are looking abroad for growth, with about 35 percent oflocal production shipped overseas, according to the cranberrymarketing organization. About a third of it lands in the U.K.,Germany and France.

One of the fastest-growing markets is China, where exportsjumped 41 percent this season, according to the marketingcommittee. The industry group is focusing on millennial women incities like Beijing where a burgeoning middle class can afford thespecialty item. The group has a budget of about $1 million toattend trade shows and start online advertising campaigns there.Ocean Spray, the U.S. cooperative of cranberry and grapefruitfarmers, this year opened a shop on Alibaba, China’s largest onlineretailer.

Foreign expansion, along with a slowdown in production, may helpbuoy prices. It’s welcome news for Van Wychen and her family, whoall pitched in more than ever on the marsh this year to plant andharvest the fruit that goes into her jellied cranberry — thecenterpiece of Christmas dinner with a recipe passed down from hergrandmother.

"As farmers, we learn to grow them so well that there’s anoversupply," she said. "The cranberry marsh is a wonderful place tolive and raise a family and I want that for the next generation butit’s just kind of tough times right now."

— With assistance from Steve Stroth.