Millions will eat cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving. But where do the berries come from?

On By Littum

MIDDLEBORO, Mass. (AP) — Weeks before Thanksgiving, some of the cranberries on dinner plates Thursday flows on the Rocky Meadow bog in southeastern Massachusetts.

The cranberries have turned this pond pinkish red. Several workers, waist-deep in water, carefully hold the berries toward a pump that vacuums them onto a waiting truck. The berries are passed through a system that separates them from the leaves and vines and transported to processing plants that eventually turn them into sauce, juice or sweet and dried berries.

  • Workers adjust floating booms while wet harvesting cranberries at Rocky Meadow Bog, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Middleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
  • Workers adjust floating booms, left, as cranberries are loaded for transport and processing during a wet harvest at Rocky Meadow Bog, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Middleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
  • Workers adjust floating booms while wet harvesting cranberries at Rocky Meadow Bog, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Middleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
  • Steve Ward, a second-generation cranberry grower, gestures from the edge of his bog during a harvest at Rocky Meadow Bog, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Middleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
  • Cranberries float as they are harvested in Rocky Meadow Bog, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Middleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
  • Cans of cranberry sauce line a turkey display at Bongi’s Turkey Roost ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022, in Duxbury, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

The native wetland plants that produce cranberries begin to grow in May. When they are ready to be harvested, farmers flood their bogs with water and send out a picker to shake the berries from the vines. Then more water is added to the mash and the freed cranberries float to the surface.

“The season has been pretty good this year. We’ve had a pretty good crop,” said Steve Ward, a second-generation cranberry grower, on the edge of his bog.

The harvest runs from September to early November, and Ward is expected to produce between 15,000 and 20,000 barrels, the best crop he’s had in three years. About 80% of these berries will go to Ocean Spray, a massive manufacturer of cranberry products in the United States

This bog is one of nearly 300 in Massachusetts, covering about 14,000 acres, and this year farmers are expected to produce 2.2 million barrels of cranberries, one barrel weighing 100 pounds (45 kg). This is an increase of 12% compared to last year. Massachusetts is the second largest cranberry producing region in the US behind Wisconsin, and the industry there dates back to the 19th century.

Despite the sector’s size, farmers in the state have weathered numerous challenges over the years, from trade wars to falling prices to an abundance of berries. Some have sold out their marshes or moved to diversify by putting solar panels around their bogs. Ward has two solar panels near his marshes and is considering putting floating solar panels on his waterholes and reservoirs.

Ward said farmers also need to adapt to a changing climate — which Massachusetts Cranberries, an industry advocacy group, said could lead to a lower harvest this year.

“We’ve had some challenges with some of the warm weather and had one of the longest dry spells we’ve ever had,” he said. “We have several 90-degree (32 degrees Celsius) days lumped together. The cranberry plants just don’t like that kind of weather. Our average temperatures, especially at night, are higher. Cranberries need cooler temperatures at night.”