New Jersey Cranberry Harvest 2009
By Jerry Pittman
2 Nov 2009
On a recent trip to Rutgers University cranberry bogs, I had the chance to photograph the final stages of the harvest. A friend there introduced me to two farms harvesting these incredible berries. They first flood the beds to create bogs allowing the fruit to float. The workers take these thrashing machines into the bogs, and "play" follow the leader. The lead man's responsibility is to mark the path the machines take. He first makes sure the path is not too deep as to get the machines submerged. Then to ensure they don't go over the same path more then once. This is to limit the damage to the cranberry bushes.The cranberries are hollow and once released from the bush rise to the surface.Turning the bog into the "Red Sea". The farm workers then encircle the berries with a "boom". You may have seen these similar "booms" used to keep oil, or other spills from spreading on the water. Once the cranberries are "corralled" the workers push them along towards pumps, or escalators. Then into trucks, some to be washed of leaves and twigs ( escalator riders). Some operations using the pumps wash them before being dumped into trucks. The majority of the cranberries I photographed were going to the " Ocean Spray" processing plant to make juice, or "Crazin's". Some fun facts about cranberries; It takes 450 cranberries to make a pound. 4,500 berries to make 1 gallon of juice. 54 million pounds of cranberries were harvested in 2009, up 5% over last year. Henry Hall a Revolutionary war veteran planted the first beds in Massachusetts in 1816. There are currently 40,000 acres of bogs in the US, and Canada. NJ is the third largest producer in the US, behind Wisconsin( 25,400 acres), and Massachusetts ( 11,000 acres). Of all the fruits only 3 can trace there roots in the US (Blueberries, Concord Grapes, and the Cranberry) I truly enjoyed my trip to these farms and a special thank you to Jennifer C. and Steve Lee the VI for giving me the chance to see firsthand how this is done.
3 responses
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Frank Summers gave props (2 Nov 2009):
GMV!! Very informative. Great Photos!
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Marie Sager gave props (3 Nov 2009):
Great photo essay. Fantastic photographs too. I voted "Yes".
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April Pittman gave props (12 Nov 2009):
Great job and photos i said "YES"
