Cranberry farms in New Jersey are battling the worst drought many have ever seen

This fall, generations of Lee families gathered, as they had every year since 1868, to harvest cranberries at Lee Brothers Farm in Chatsworth, Burlington County.

Stephen W. Lee III, 78, has been growing these fruits for decades. On Thursday, he was walking along the sandy road of the marsh, full of red berries that bobbed on the surface of the water.

Workers, including family members, stood waist-deep in water, raking berries into a submerged vacuum that sucked the fruit onto the top of a truck. There, a machine washed them as they bounced along a conveyor belt that dumped them by the thousands into a truck.

Cranberry harvest is a colorful annual ritual in New Jersey. But this year is not typical at all.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my entire life,” Lee said of the drought, which farmers attribute to the summer.

Shades of foliage swirling around the farm are muted. The grass is brown. The reservoir, which originates from the nearby Wading River, is almost empty. There are campers along the nearby Baton Trail it is forbidden to light a fire.

As Lee climbed into his truck, the temperature rose to an all-time high on a day of 82 in Philadelphia, last accomplished in 1946.

A financial blow to the industry

Fortunately, the lack of water did not affect the quality of the crop.

But the lack of rain has been extremely costly for cranberry farmers like Lee, who rely on local waterways to flood their swamps.

Cranberries are grown on dry bogs that flood in the fall, causing the fruits to pop to the surface for easier picking. But this year, farmers have had to pump water from wells that tap into the Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer, a 17 trillion gallon source of fresh water beneath the sandy soil. Running the pumps day and night costs a lot of money.

“We’ve never harvested with well water before,” Lee said. His 1,800-acre farm routinely draws water from the Wading River to feed 130 acres of cranberry bogs.

His son, Steven W. Lee IV, stood nearby, holding data sheets from the farm’s weather station.

More than 12 inches of rain fell between August and October in 2022 and 2023, the data showed.

This year: 1.54 inches over the same period. Zero for October.

“It’s a crisis,” the younger Lee said.

Other cranberry farmers agree: this is the worst drought they can remember. No rain is expected next week.

Top cranberry condition

The drought comes during the critical fall harvest, which supplies homes with fresh cranberries or canned Thanksgiving sauce, as well as a host of other products, such as juice.

New Jersey is the third largest cranberry producing state behind Wisconsin and Massachusetts, respectively. In 2023, New Jersey farmers exported 580,000 barrels of cranberries with a total value of $20 million, according to the USDA.

Farmers say the drought started for them around mid-August. Data of the state climatologist and Rutgers University this is confirmed by Professor David Robinson.

Last month was the driest October on record, Robinson said until 1895. The average October rainfall in New Jersey is 4.19 inches. In addition, it was the third driest September on record. That was the lowest total for the two months of September and October, Robinson said.

It couldn’t have come at a worse time for farmers. They start harvesting in October and usually use runoff from local streams and rivers to flood the marshes. This year they had to carry out expensive pumping work, which put them behind schedule.

Lee III said that at times they had to stop harvesting to wait for the water to be pumped out, and he also had to rent an extra pump. The main well pump draws crystal clear water from the aquifer at a rate of 3,600 gallons per minute. It has been working almost continuously since October 6.

While farms will take a financial hit from thousands of hours of diesel pumps, consumers shouldn’t notice much of a difference in the price of the berries. That’s because farmers sell their berries through Ocean Spray, a 700-member grower cooperative. Since other cranberry-growing states do not have these problems, the cost to consumers may be equalized.

“Never seen anything like it”

Bill Haynes, 71, owner of Pine Island Cranberry Co. 1,436 acres in Washington Township, Burlington County, also grows Ocean Spray. He has been farming for almost 50 years and usually draws water from the Wading River. But not this year.

“I’ve never seen anything like it, and we’ve had dry seasons,” Haynes said. “Even when it’s dry, in September or October we usually get a nor’easter that will come up the coast and help us.”

He had to run seven pumps, some of which ran “24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

Each pump burns seven to nine gallons of fuel per hour.

Another problem is frost

Farmers say the early frost also forced them to pump more water than usual. Water is sprayed on the berries as an insulator.

William Cutts, 76, of Cutts Brothers Cranberry Farm in Bass River, Burlington County, said frost came early this year, with temperatures in some marshes dropping into the mid-teens.

“We had a lot of under-20 and over-teen nights,” Cutts said.

So not only to flood the swamp for harvesting, he also pumped to protect the fruit.

“We had to irrigate more,” Cutts said. “Our water reserves are low, as are our reservoirs. We haven’t had any real rain since early to mid July. It slowed us down and continues to slow us down, making the worker more rigid. In addition, we had to fight the frost. This cuts into our profits. We spend a lot of money on fuel oil to run the pumps.”

Originally, he said, Ocean Spray members had planned to close the co-op’s Chatsworth drop-off point on Nov. 1. According to him, they extended it until November 7.

But a later harvest also brings a greater chance of frost and a need for more water, Cutts noted.

“This is definitely the worst year I’ve ever seen,” Cutts said of the conditions.

Winter can be expensive too

Cranberry farmers may face an ongoing crisis even after the harvest is over, the elder Lee said. Farmers use water to protect cranberries from deep freezes in the winter because the ice provides insulation. But with such a lack of rainfall, it will take a long time to restore local waterways to a point where they can be used to flood the marshes in winter. Usually, cranberry plants are under water from December to April.

So a prolonged absence of rain may mean the pumps are turned up.

“If if the cranberry bud freezes, we will be out of business next year,” Lee said. “We have to find a way to protect these vines from the cold. Our irrigation systems were designed for spring and fall frosts, not winter freezes.”