Bright cranberry harvest begins

 

This year’s cranberry harvest began early and strong, with higher yields expected thanks to favourable conditions for pollination this spring and a temperate summer.

“We’ll probably have our largest crop to date,” says Brian DeWit of Riverside Cranberry Farm in Langley. “This year all the fields look like they’re firing pretty good, so we’ll hit just north of a million pounds on 34 acres. That’s a number I’m really happy with.”

The estimate works out to an average of 29,412 pounds per acre, versus a provincial average last year based on Statistics Canada data of 21,273 pounds per acre.

DeWit, who has Crimson Queen from the Rutgers breeding program, began harvest 10 to 14 days ahead of previous years, in mid-September, and was hauling 700-pound boats of cranberries across his bog when he spoke with Country Life in BC this week.

“We had a good year. We had some pretty beneficial rains when we needed them,” he says.

He prunes his fields to expose the berries and assist ripening. This is good for the fresh market, which he says is “really strong” this year.

“The whole Buy Canadian movement is quite strong, and the retailers are recognizing that there’s  a pretty broad contingent of their consumers that are boycotting American stuff and, wherever they can, buying Canadian.”

While the farm wasn’t originally set up to serve the fresh market – the majority of BC cranberries head south to Ocean Spray for processing as sweetened dried Craisins or juice – Riverside has adapted.

“Getting the quality that we need, that’s something that we’ve had to work hard to get,” he says. “There’s a reason why not too many people do it, because it’s a challenge.”

With favourable conditions through the remainder of harvest, BC Cranberry Marketing Commission chair Stephanie Nelson is optimistic.

“A few more weeks of sunshine and cooler evenings should help bring the crop to its full potential,” she says in a statement regarding the harvest.

All content on this website is copyrighted, and cannot be republished or reproduced without permission.