For our third stop
today we toured Wetherby Cranberry farms in Warrens Wisconsin. The cranberry
farm was started in 1903 and has been family owned and operated ever since.
They have approximately 1000 acres of land but only grow cranberries on 110
acres. Along with the whole family working on the farm they have two full time
employees and during harvest time they hire an additional 12 people.
Our tour guide Mike explained that cranberries
grow essentially like a vine which have small offshoots that root into the
ground. The part of the plant that forms the berries is called the upright. A
good crop of cranberries will have approximately 5-6 berries on the upright.
The fields in which cranberries grow are referred to as beds; each bed is
approximately 3 acres in size. The cranberry harvest starts the first weekend
in October and will run for about 3 weeks. To harvest cranberries they flood
each bed and drive a machine overtop of the cranberries to loosen them. Once
the berries are loose they float to the surface, then are corralled to one
corner of the field and are extracted from the water to be processed. For
cranberry farmers yield is measured in barrels, each barrel is 100 pounds. An
excellent crop of cranberries will run 150 barrels an acre and the return for
one barrel can fall between 30-50 dollars.
One third of their
production will be packed and shipped as fresh fruit and the other two thirds
are sent to be made into juice for Ocean Spray. The tour of Wetherby Cranberry
farms was really interesting because cranberries are not commonly grown in
Ontario. Also it was neat to see how farming practices for cranberries are so
much different compared to soybeans, corn and wheat. All in all it was well
worth the visit to Wetherby Cranberry farms.
Alex Zelem
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