Thanksgiving will not be the same if it does not have the essential side dish cranberry; unfortunately, this year's harvest in New England was affected by extreme weather.
Growing cranberries
The environment ideal for growing cranberries is cool regions that have warm summers. These conditions exist in Oregon, Wisconsin, New England, and Washington.
According to Dale Mohler, Senior Meteorologist of AccuWeather, in the US, Wisconsin has the highest cranberry production, supplying over 50% of the entire country's supply of cranberries. Mohler is on AccuWeather's commodities forecast team.
Cranberries require wet conditions to thrive and are grown in bogs and wetlands.
Thanksgiving will not be the same if it does not have the essential side dish cranberry; unfortunately, this year’s harvest in New England was affected by extreme weather.
New Jersey and Massachusetts largely provide the Northeast supply, and this year, the drought that occurred in the growing season of April up to November dampened the production.
According to Massachusetts farmer and Cranberry Growers Association in Cape Cod member Dawn Allen, extreme weather conditions this year caused a significant decrease in the harvest of berries.
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Weather effects
These extreme weather disasters severely affected Allen's cranberry bogs, with two hailstorms that hit last summer. It decreased the yield by 10%.
Bogs need enough rain to maintain the crops' condition; however, the rain did not come. According to Allen, this low amount of rainfall is unprecedented. He says that more tenured growers will consider this the worst ever drought for the Massachusetts cranberry industry.
According to Maine Columbia Falls resident and Sugar Hill Cranberry Company grower Christine Alexander, their bog had devastating losses that weren't like any other losses in the past. She says it is among the worst cranberry seasons in 42 years. There was even frost last June 19.
This frost disrupted the crop pollination in their state, and an extreme heatwave also caused negative effects. The hot conditions were too much for Alexander's irrigation system.
She said the heat radiating from the ground and below scorched the crops and cooked the cranberries while still on their vines. This year, they lost 95% of their crops.
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Good harvest
However, she also adds that next year seems bright for cranberry farmers in New England.
Farmers in Wisconsin can also expect a better season. Last year's wet and cold weather during the summer caused 30% of the crops to fail for the Wetherby Cranberry Company.
For the company, it is excellent. In Wisconsin, Wetherby is one of the two cranberry bogs that sells 5% of their crop as fresh fruit and 95% as processed for sweetening, drying, or incorporated in juices.
Wisconsin's harvest season is from the middle of September to the end of November. The weather was fairly warm and dry, with added precipitation throughout the state. November's weather was mild, and it was good for the final harvest stretch before the holiday.
The USDA said that Massachusetts' cranberries should have had a good record harvest this year, but it did not come to pass. The forecast for this year was a positive increase of 11% from last year. In actuality, however, it was down by 10 to 12 percent.
This resulted in an average Massachusetts cranberry season. Massachusetts is the second-highest cranberry producer in the country.
This is the bleak but hopeful future for the Thanksgiving cranberry crop, as it is at the mercy of extreme weather events.
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