A Sea of Red

In a few counties across Wisconsin there are some fields that are now being flooded with water. In most cases, this would be a bad thing. But right now – in Cranberry Country – this is a common harvest practice.

However, this hasn’t always been the case.

Before cranberries were farmed commercially, they grew wild in the wetlands of central and northern Wisconsin. Native Americans harvested them, and shared them with the new settlers.

In Wisconsin, the first commercial cultivation of these red berries took place near Berlin around the 1860s. The first few years were not easy, as farmers tried to figure out how to handle the weather, disease, bugs and weeds. The harvest was also challenging. Farmers would wrap their hands in cloth to pick the berries by hand.

Years later, farmers began using hand-rakes that would pull the berries from the vines and scoop them up into the rake’s basket. Since the 1940s, the use of machines for harvesting has been the norm. This shows how the business of agriculture, like any other business, must modernize and be innovative to remain profitable and competitive.

I had a chance to participate in the cranberry harvest when I visited Glacial Lake Cranberries near Wisconsin Rapids at the end of September. The day I toured the marsh was also their first day of harvest. To start the harvest, pipes from water reservoirs to the cranberry beds are opened, and water begins to flood the marsh. Special tractors, also called beaters, are driven across the bed. These tractors look kind of like machines used to rake hay, but these machines gently knock the cranberries off the vines. Cranberries have air pockets, so they float.

As the water continues to rush in the bed, the cranberries stay floating on top. The next step is to corral the berries by placing a very wide ribbon in the water at the edge of the bed and pulling all the berries to one side. This part of the harvest is quite beautiful because that activity creates a moving sea of brightly colored cranberries.

It felt incredible to be walking in the hip boots. But I didn’t just stand there, I helped with the next step. Once the berries are corralled, they are picked up by a conveyor and loaded into a large truck that can hold about 18,000 pounds of cranberries. People are needed during this step to help push the berries near the elevator’s intake. I grabbed a push board and helped move the berries in closer. Someone on a tractor outside the bed was also pulling the yellow ribbon tighter and tighter to bring all the berries in.

Once all the berries are loaded, they are taken away to be processed. Some cranberries will be sold fresh, while others are dried or made into juice.

Harvesting will continue to take place through much of the month of October. When complete, it is estimated that Wisconsin will continue to lead the nation in cranberry production at four million barrels – nearly twice that of the second-place state. Although cranberries are grown in just 19 counties, the effects are felt far beyond that. There are processing facilities, retail stores, and businesses that support cranberries all across the state. The cranberry industry contributes about $350 million in economic activity to the state and more than 7,000 jobs to workers.

And everyone can benefit from cranberries by eating them. Cranberries are known as a super-fruit, packed with vitamins and antioxidants. More and more people around the world have been getting the health benefits from cranberries as the fruit is exported to more countries.

Back here in Wisconsin, we celebrate the cranberry as our state’s largest fruit crop and as our official state fruit.

You can celebrate too by taking a marsh tour of your own. Logon to the Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association Web site at www.wiscran.org to learn about the Cranberry Highway and the marshes that offer tours so you can see the “sea of red.”

Alice in Dairyland is Wisconsin’s agricultural ambassador. She travels over 40,000 miles each year to spread the word about our agricultural industry. Alice in Dairyland can be reached by writing to DATCP, 2811 Agriculture Drive, P.O. Box 8911, Madison, WI 53718.

You can schedule Alice for an upcoming event by contacting the Alice in Dairyland Program at (608) 224-5080 or by e-mail at DATCPAlice@wisconsin.gov.