TIVERTON — The news has been full of reports predicting a tough year for cranberry growers but optimism is the word at Tiverton’s only cranberry bogs.

“Our berries are looking really good so far, said Lucien Lebreux, owner of Middle Acres Cranberry Farm in a valley off Crandall Road.

The cranberries are certainly more abundant there this year than last when the crop was down by two thirds or more. Mr. Lebreux said too much early rain last year, combined with a possible important error in the timing of fertilizer, were the likely culprits then.

But, while he is worried about lack of rain, “this year we’ve got lots of berries and they are good ones.”

He watches his big irrigation pond with concern. Filled mostly by ground water, it supplies his sprinklers but it must also provide the water needed to flood the bogs come harvest time.

“It’s down by about six feet now — we’ll need more water than this to do it right.”

Mr. Lebreux said the bogs having the most trouble now are smaller ones out on the Cape that don’t have sprinklers and can’t flood due to low water levels.

Barring a change in weather patterns, this will be another late harvest.

“You need cold weather, nights down close to frost, for the berries to turn color. We’ve had warm falls the past few years and haven’t been able to harvest until late October, even early November … Hopefully by then we’ll see a little more rain around here.”

Price, as always, is the other worry “and not much we can do about that one.”

“You don’t even have any idea what they are going to pay until the time comes — around the time you start pulling out the berries, they tell you what they will pay.” Mr. Lebreux is guessing the prices will fall into the $10 a barrel range again, far below the $40 to $60 they once got and scarcely enough to makes ends meet.

Much of that drop is due to big new competition in places that never used to grow many cranberries — Canada, Wisconsin and elsewhere.

Tiverton’s berries are mostly destined to be crushed for juice sold under several brands.