August 25, 2024 • 29 mins
Robin talks with Grant Holley, executive director for the Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association, about cranberries, cranberry season, and everything that makes Wisconsin the top cranberry producer in the nation.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning. I'm Robin Colbert, and this is Madison Forum.
Today we're talking cranberry's and who better to talk to
than Grant Holly. He is the executive director of the
Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association. Grant, thank you so much
for joining me this morning. I was going to say cranberry.
I was going to give it the title of the
(00:20):
number one fruit for fall, but then it dawned on me.
I guess pumpkins are fruit, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well we're going to call them gords. Okay, we're still
going to claim fruit. We want to do it within Wisconsin.
I don't think anybody's going to fight upon that.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
And Wisconsin has a pretty impressive history when it comes
to cranberry production. I've known for years because I used
to work up like in the heart of cranberry country
in western Wisconsin, the Toma area, and of course Warren's Cranfest.
That's got to be on the horizon here right.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
It is coming up, and it is coming up quick
with all the national recognition recognition that they get these days.
So it is coming up on the twenty seventh and
twenty eighth and twenty ninth of September anybody listening in
is going to be going up. I recommend going up early,
getting that parking place going up a few days early,
(01:17):
because it's all the vendors and arts and crafts that
they have up there. They sell out pretty quick.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
They do. And I mean this is just a little
stop alongside the road. Warren's is just a small village
in Monroe County. And I wouldn't have believed it if
I hadn't seen it from my own eyes. We're talking
and this this was like geez, twenty five or more
years ago, well over one hundred thousand people that just
converge on this tiny village and.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
They gave me a map, and it's basically just the
entire village of Warrens gets into this. So it's bring
you walk and shoes on top of everything else. It
just covers it.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Yeah, it's a lot of fun, lot of pride growing
the cranberry Now in Wisconsin, Grant is like that what
would you call that? Like it's western Wisconsin? Is it
kind of west central? Black River Falls and Tulma areas?
Is that like the prime spot for the cranberry bogs
in our state?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Folks do say that that is that's the cranberry capital.
But really cranberries go from west central, Central all the
way up into the north. They are scattered all over
Wisconsin pretty much from our midpoint going north. Just the
perfect land for it. And they've been focus have been
on that land for one hundred, one hundred and fifty
(02:39):
years on their cranberry marshes.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Yeah, and it's it's become a lucrative business. I mean,
talk about a versatile fruit. I mean old school days,
what you had cranberry's maybe once a year with your
Thanksgiving meal. But now, I mean the craze has been
around forever in a day, but that just I mean
just said it a fire. As far as all these
different things they're doing with cranberries, well the more we.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Learn about it, the cooler agains. I mean, it's just
every single time we learn something new about the cranberry,
we use it in a different way, it just gets
that much more cool and that much more a part
of our lives. So it's if you want to, if
you compare it to other berries that are out there,
then the cranberries they are grown so much more ecologically.
(03:28):
They are incredibly healthy for the body because they have
this waxy coating that are a little bit like tanks,
so they are shipped a lot easier and they stay
fresh a lot longer, and then once you start getting
into the inside of one. We're only just now starting
to learn all of the positives that come out of cranberry.
I mean, we always hear that it's anything for uti,
(03:52):
they help to prevent that type of thing, but we're
starting to be able to learn that a lot of
the anthicianos that are inside of it, It affects a
lot of the back area inside of your body, and
we're starting to be able to hear all of the
benefits that go on. We keep hearing things like free
radicals and pieces like that, but it's free radical is
(04:13):
just basically whatever is just bad for us that's out
inside of the environment, and so much of the cranberry
will grab that in your body, hold on to it,
and help your body to be able to get rid
of it at the same time. So they're healthy, whether
you like them a little bit sour, which is kind
of my preference, or swingeing dried which is a huge preference,
(04:33):
and juices, muffins, you name it. It's just so incredibly versatile.
You don't need to purchase them from another country, have
them put on a boat and brought to Wisconsin. It's
going to be your neighbor and your backyard or just
down the road. And that's about as far as they came.
So I don't know what will be more positive.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Absolutely, And yeah, that's a huge point. You make grant
with a lot of our fruits and veggies, even more
so veggies, like I love avocados. The avocados in Wisconsin
are you know, they're they're doable, they're fine, they'll fit
the bill. But if you've ever been to like southwestern
state where you get them, like California, southern California, you
(05:17):
get those like fresh fresh, it's a whole different taste.
And that's what we're you know, we get to have
that experience with granberry here in Wisconsin.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
That's exactly it's It was probably in a marsh a
few days before it hit your grocery store. And if
you're grabbing them in October November, the taste is through
the roof. It's yeah, you couldn't do any better. It's
great for the state, it's great for the economy, it's
being better for your body.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
And now this year. What what's the cranberry crop looking like?
I know, you know, we had a wild I don't
need to tell you, but the weather was was rather
moody this year.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Goody is a good word. I wouldn't even say downright
tick off at times, but yes, I.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Would think with a cranberry in the bogs, I would think, Okay,
so you get a lot of rain, that shouldn't make
any difference, but I probably does. Huh.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Well, there's always too much of a good thing. And
this year we really did push the whole rain side
of things, and we did. It's the rain wasn't as
much of our issue. We had two big pieces, which
was the incredibly warm winter here inside of Wisconsin. So
one of our biggest and most natural, say, herbicides that
(06:39):
we use is ice. I mean, so when we sit
back when we say things like it's one of our
biggest insexicides is ice. Fungicides is sand. I mean, this
is it doesn't get much more natural than that. But
this year, because we had it so warm and we
had very quick cold spurts, so one of the ways
(07:00):
that we protect the cranberries is we put a layer
of ice on them. They can handle that temperature just fine,
and the ice protects them from getting any colder than
basically thirty two degrees. It keeps the wind off of them,
all that kind of fun stuff. So when Wisconsin will
drop to negative ten, negative fifteen, negative twenty, it's they're
(07:23):
protected by that ice and will keep ice on top
of them for most of the winter, again protecting them.
But because we had it so warm, it was tough
to keep ice on the top, and when we had
those quick cold snaps, there was nothing to be able
to protect the vines. Because those vines stay. They're not
like other crops where we tell them out the plant indulance.
(07:46):
There are vines in many marshes that are older than
I am, and which is just baffling. But because of
that process, we had a lot of winter damage. And
then if winter damage wasn't enough, we had those big,
big hailstorms that came and they were kind of hit
and this, and then they get grand arias or tanks.
(08:08):
So when you get hail coming down the side of
golf balls or even softballs, it can leave a lot
of our marshes looking like mulch. And they needed they'll
need time to be able to grow back. Again, so
we did have some weather issues this year. To be honest,
we had such level of weather issues that I'm proud
of our growers because they were out when we're talking
(08:32):
about those varying temperatures, it's they do frost watches. They
were staying awake many nights making sure that their vines
were taken care of. It's these are their homes, these
are their livelihoods. These are vines their grandparents and great
grandparents had actually planted, so they take care of them
like they take care of children.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Sure. Absolutely, As far as around the nation, I mean
was Scott we're definitely, what like in the top three
or definitely top five when it comes to cranberry production.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Right we are number one, are we really go Wisconsin?
We are the top cranberry producer by far within the
United States. So we actually account for right around so
this year we're going to account for about sixty one
percent of the US production. Last year we were at
(09:25):
sixty two, so we did fall by a percentage point.
Almost everybody within the country, if they're producing cranberry's had
some kind of weather issue this year so that they're
down as well. So our percentages stayed about the Saint.
But we're about sixty one percent of the US production,
which is amazing.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
That that is because I I thought, how long have
we been number one? Or does it go do we
trade off on and off of like Massachusetts or Vermont
or something.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
It's been a long I don't know the exact year,
but it's been a long long time, to be honest.
So we are producing somewhere around five million barrels of
cranberries every single year, and a barrel is about one
hundred pounds of cranberry, so it's not hard to be
able to do that math. Massachusetts does come in at
(10:20):
about half of what we do, and that's sort of
been the direction that things have gone in for a while.
We have more space, we have wonderful farm protections that
our state government has helped provide us with. Wisconsin is
a state that takes their farm usage and their farmers
(10:42):
incredibly seriously. And it's through a lot of those blessings
that Wisconsin is able to do what they do.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
And there's a good reason, well, just the livelihood of
so many Wisconsin nights depend on this, and also it
brings in quite a bit of money. Do you have
many like dollar figures on how much cranberry production revenue
that is brought in.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Yeah, so we bring in about a billion dollars a
year to yeah two Wisconsin, we're employing nearly four thousand people,
and you then start thinking about the indirect pieces of
how those four thousand people reach out across the state
at the same time. But yeah, it is a big
(11:27):
impact for the state. For the land. About twenty one
thousand acres of Wisconsin is devoted towards Cranberry's where across
twenty counties, and it's about two hundred and fifty families
who have been at it for generations.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Yeah, and Grant, That's the interesting point here I'm wondering
is you know we hear of hobby farms. Is cranberry
farming is something you can just pick up and give
it a go, or does it have to have that
whole history and going down through the generations, or I mean,
do you get startups.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
People do start it as a hobby, and they'll typically
may have some smaller marshes. We see that in other
states more so than in Wisconsin. Within Wisconsin, there is
such this heritage that's behind it as well. So if
there was an individual in Wisconsin that wanted to start
cranberry farming, they would probably contact four or five of
(12:30):
the different marshes that are out there who are incredibly helpful.
As such a tight knit community, these guys help each
other all the time, and they would be able to
help them sort of get started. The nice thing is
that we have space in Wisconsin, so we have nice
straight lines and we're able to make larger marshes that
(12:53):
are out there, whereas you may find some other areas
where space is a little bit harder to be able
to find or property price. This are through the roof,
and sometimes you got to grow where you grown those
straight lines, which makes harvesting more difficult.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Yeah, because correct me if I'm wrong. I don't believe
we have any cranberry operations here in southern Wisconsin. It's
mostly central and northern, right.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
That off the top of my head, I would agree.
If I am missing a farmer to our south and
they're listening in, I am so sorry, but I think
that is mostly central to the north.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Yeah, and probably the longer winters would play never mind,
I mean land values down here, you know, are substantially
more than some areas to the north, and what have
you in space is also a challenge, but I'd imagine
climate wise, that's just a better fit for them Central
and northern.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
It is because that ice is so incredibly important to
what we do and how we keep our land almost
as pure as it can be. When I sit back
and I say that, it's like, well, ice is one
of our biggest pesticides, it's true. We want those hard freezes.
When we say that ice is one of the best
ways that we get rid of wheat, it's true because
(14:10):
we want those hard freezes that are out there. So
ice is incredibly important to cranberry cranberry production.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Yeah, I was going to ask as far as like
what sort of do you have to use pesticides? Are
there any sort of insects that can be I'd imagine
even in the water that can be a detriment to
the production of cranberries.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
There are, but it's comparably cranberries use very few pesticides.
And we're also blessed with the University Wisconsin system and
their researchers. We have a large number of folks here
in Wisconsin within UW that their research is completely on
(14:56):
cranberry and they will also pay attention to a little
bug call the leaf popper, and they are mapping the
life cycle. They are mapping everything that there is about it,
so our folks, they don't do widespread pesticides at all.
The researchers have provided us with where is the bug
(15:17):
the most vulnerable, So instead of doing a car bombing campaign,
we're more of snipers. We know exactly where where that
little bug is the most vulnerable, which allows us one
to control costs because those things do cost money, but
at the same time to be able to use just
(15:40):
the least amount that we positively can. I'm sure well
folks may have heard about like the Sinful Seven for fruit,
which things that are covered with pesticides and pieces like that.
Cranberry has never even been close to that. It's and
for these reasons. It's cranberries grow in Wisconsin whether we
(16:02):
are here or not, so we didn't introduce these crops
to Wisconsin. They're used to our environment. They're used to
all the little critters that are around at the same time,
so there's very little that we sometimes have to do
to them because this is their natural environment.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Now, what is like we're coming up on the harvest,
right harvest begins late next month until mid October. But
like year round cranberry growers, is there ever a break,
like a couple months off or I suppose you always
got a I don't know. I'm not a grower.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
There is. I'm waiting to find it myself.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
So take us from like from like January to when
we start the harvest in late September. What's going on then.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
So they'll do things like if we call it standing.
So what we're doing is we're putting sand out on
those January marshes. And by putting an extra layer of sand,
what it's doing is it is protecting our vine somewhat.
But it's also putting down this layer sand keeps weeds
(17:16):
from growing or keeps things besides the cranberries from grow.
Cranberries love that sandy soil, weeds not as much. So
the sand that we actually add to the marshes is
going to keep us from having to use herbicide in
the future.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Yeah, it's really you can't shake a stick at it.
It's this is just it's a wonderful it's a wonderful
fruit and it's in its natural environment here in Wisconsin.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
So do you just do the sand in in January
or is that a continuous you got, because sand will
erode over some time, but it's probably pretty sturdy to
stick around for how long it's so it's a.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
They will do it every well sometimes usually every year,
and they're putting that sand out there onto the marshes
and it does stick around for quite some time. So
and because the cranberries stick around for quite some time.
If you get a tilled crop, you always hear about
the loss of top soil. Well, that's where that goes
(18:21):
is because you always have to be able to till
that soil up. Because those cranberries stay there, that sand
gets incorporated inside of their roots, and you actually get
history under the ground. So you could do core samples
underneath the ground and start looking at the root systems
going back decades if you really needed to. But that's
(18:44):
also provided. It's one of the reasons why cranberries are
so strong, because they're not tilled and they stay inside
of that ground. They have co evolved with a lot
of soil fungus, a lot of soil bacteria, and not
all fungus and bacteria are bad, and they co evolved
with that. So it's almost its own little ecosystems in there, and.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
So after the sanding and then it's just the monitoring.
Do they have to.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Well, they're looking at they're looking at the growth, so
looking at the growth of the cranberries, making sure that
they're getting the spread on the marsh that they actually want.
So cranberries will grow in kind of two different directions.
We get the fruit that is starting to be able
to grow up, but you also get things called runners,
(19:33):
which is where it expands across the marsh because they
do grow just like vines and they're trying to be
so our farmers will be trying to help monitor how
much they're allowing it to be able to grow, say
horizontally or the runners, as compared to how much they're
actually wanting it to be able to grow up. The
(19:54):
pieces that run side aside, they don't necessarily bear fruit,
So we're caust looking to be able to find where's the.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Happy medea And do they develop that red color or
is that something as they ripen and they change.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
That red color is believe it or not, sunscreen. So
as we get a little bit colder in time period
and as the sun sets lower in the sky, what
we have is we have the berry that is investing
in the protection of itself, so it starts to develop
(20:31):
this anthocyanin. So that's that red color. And if you
go to any of the dietary or health talks that
are out there, people love anto cyan So that color
starts to develop as a sunscreen as the sun sets
lower to be able to help protect the berry.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
What is the difference between because I've heard obviously cranberry
the marshes, I've also heard bogs. But they're not the
same thing, are they? Or are they just the term
is common enough, they're just interchangeable one for the other.
Or do some do a bog and some do a marsh?
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Within Cranberry Wisconsinight's typically call it marshes. Everybody else do
they call them bogs? As a former biology teacher, I
gotta tell you, marsh is actually probably more of the
correct term because we had inflow and outflow of water.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Got it? Okay? So you used to be a how
did you get into becoming Did you grow up on
a cranberry marsh or how did you take this direction
to become the executive director of the cranberry growers?
Speaker 2 (21:38):
So I grew up in the hills of West Virginia
and enjoying all of the culture that was through there,
and definitely you can imagine some farms that were there.
But from an early age, I had the philosophy that
was instilled with me that people should know two pieces
of biology more so than anything else. One is their
(22:01):
own body. It's a machine that you are given from
day one and you will have throughout your life, and
you should know how it works. The next one is
where does your food come from? Because that's fueling that
machine at the same time, and I sometimes I see
tiktoks that are out there, and sometimes kids are asking
(22:21):
It's like, why do farmers work so hard when all
they have to do is go to the grocery store
and Oh God, we need to fix this. We need
to fix this yesterday. So all of those philosophies, I
started going into science education, agricultural agri education. I worked
(22:43):
for about fourteen years at North Carolina State University within
science education agricultural education, and I've done a few other
things that were out there, but that's where I was
the happiest. So I reached a point in my life
where I wanted to be happy again and I started
looking at going back into agriculture, agriculture education. I've built
(23:08):
programs and I've built organizations throughout my life. And I
met the Cranberry Growers folks in December of last year,
and I got to tell you, it is very difficult
to not fall in love with these guys once you
talked to them for about fifteen minutes, and I started
(23:29):
to realize this is where my happy will be and
I could not I could not be happier with that decision.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Well, and it's it's not like this is some fly
by night organization I see here at that The Growers
Association was founded in eighteen eighty seven, good.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
God, exactly. And imagine how long it took the farmers
to be able to come together as an organization. So
they have been farming Cranberry's inside of Wisconsin before Wisconsin
was Wisconsin.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
I'm glad you brought up the educational aspect of it,
because you know, we were talking about Warren's just the
small little stop alongside the road. It is usually until
end of September. But there is also a Cranberry museum there.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Correct, there is, as a matter of fact, and they're
doing they're renovating various pieces of it. I've been able
to actually see they have a nice new honeybee exhibit,
which I find fascinating, and so do most of the kids.
It's adults. We sometimes it's like we want to be
a little bit more polite, But most adults we walk
(24:33):
up to it like they're six years old again and
they're seeing all these honey bees and like, oh my goodness,
I can find the queen. So yes, it's a wonderful facility.
I love the fact that they are branching out and
they're including things like the bees helping us understand our
own connection with bees and how important they are to
(24:56):
human survival.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Yeah, that's a topic for a whole other day.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Oh boy, it is.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
And I didn't realize. I was just doing a little
background brushing up on the state and Cranberry's and we
have what's is it marked us so Wisconsin Cranberry Highway.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
We do as a matter of fact, and that's going
to that is going to start to get very busy
in the next month or so. So we have a
lot of Cranberry marshes up and down that Cranberry Highway,
and we get a lot of folks coming through.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Is that like, is that like highway like twenty one?
Is there a certain highway like twenty one or seventy three?
I know those are kind of big highways around there.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Oh, yes, it's I could look.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
That's that's okay. You don't have to worry because we are.
We only got a couple more minutes here. So but yeah,
in that that sort of it goes everywhere. It runs
from Rapids Wisconsin, Rapids, Nicusa, Babcock, Pittsville, that that whole
area kind of southwest of Stephen's Point.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
And that's exactly it. It's it's not even just one highway,
it's that entire I think it's there. Yeah, and folks
that are coming out to be able to look at
the leaves, well, the best thing in the world to
be able to do is look at the leaves with
the grandairy color, and that's it's a visual that just
gets burned on your soul. It's just so pretty. The
only thing that I would throw out is a PSA
(26:23):
that it's uh, folks are going to be working in
those marshes and we get we always get folks pulling
off to the side and you can take your pictures
on the side of the road and things like that.
But please don't go walking into those marshes uninvited. It's dangerous.
So yeah, it's please understand. These are people's homes, these
(26:44):
are their livelihoods. Yeah, and a farm is not what
we would call the safest place on earth, So make
sure you've asked permission and you have somebody there that's
going to be able to help you keep safe.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
So it brings something of besides just mark geting the
product cranberry related products. It has a little bit of
a tourism following as well. I mean it's not as
big as looking around at the leaves, but it's something
to look at. Huh.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Yeah, we have several folks that have sort of started
to dip their toe into agritourism, and they will they'll
run you through. They've gotten special vehicles. They will run
you around their marshes. They will show you how things work.
They'll get you a set of waiters and you can
do the photo op inside of a marsh as well.
(27:32):
It's very easy to be able to google who those
folks are. I would highly recommend if they have reservations,
if they have tickets, you get into that as fast
as you can, because there is always more demand than
we actually have space.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Okay sure. And also this year, in twenty twenty four,
I also want to give the cranberry kudos to its
twentieth anniversary as Wisconsin's official state fruit.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Yes, ma'am, we are. We had a big to do
with that. At the Wisconsin State there we introduced the
cranberry kringle. Two. You think the nice pieces, Oh my goodness,
you'd have no idea. We'll get you one. We're not
losing that recipe or the folks that made it for us,
I guarantee that. But yes, it is amazing. We celebrated
(28:24):
it all the way through. The only thing that makes
that cranberry kringle better is that actually finds good old
fashioned Wisconsin cheese and eat that at the same time. Yeah,
I agree, you go. Here's my holiday present everybody, all.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Right, you guys, Yeah, we're coming into my favorite and
I'm not alone obviously, meal season, Holiday meal season with Thanksgiving,
and I'm a huge cranbery. I have to my Thanksgiving dinner.
It just isn't the same unless you have cranberry there
with a turkey and stuffing. In fact, I've been known
to pack my own if we're going to a relatives.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
To have it fresh cranberry. You have it there with
the turkey. You have it on the table. Throw a
little Wisconsin brie inside of that too, and yeah, you're
a legend.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Now I'm ending this on a hungry note. But Grant,
it has been very interesting to hear all the different
facts and fun stuff about Cranberry's here in Wisconsin. And
again earlier in the program. I mean, I was surprised
to Yeah, we're number one and have been for quite
a while as far as cranberry production in the United States.
(29:36):
Just another reason to be proud here in Wisconsin. Grand
Holly has been my guest this morning, the executive director
of the Wisconsin State Cranberry's Association. You've been listening to
Madison for them.
Good morning. I'm Robin Colbert, and this is Madison Forum.
Today we're talking cranberry's and who better to talk to
than Grant Holly. He is the executive director of the
Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association. Grant, thank you so much
for joining me this morning. I was going to say cranberry.
I was going to give it the title of the
(00:20):
number one fruit for fall, but then it dawned on me.
I guess pumpkins are fruit, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well we're going to call them gords. Okay, we're still
going to claim fruit. We want to do it within Wisconsin.
I don't think anybody's going to fight upon that.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
And Wisconsin has a pretty impressive history when it comes
to cranberry production. I've known for years because I used
to work up like in the heart of cranberry country
in western Wisconsin, the Toma area, and of course Warren's Cranfest.
That's got to be on the horizon here right.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
It is coming up, and it is coming up quick
with all the national recognition recognition that they get these days.
So it is coming up on the twenty seventh and
twenty eighth and twenty ninth of September anybody listening in
is going to be going up. I recommend going up early,
getting that parking place going up a few days early,
(01:17):
because it's all the vendors and arts and crafts that
they have up there. They sell out pretty quick.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
They do. And I mean this is just a little
stop alongside the road. Warren's is just a small village
in Monroe County. And I wouldn't have believed it if
I hadn't seen it from my own eyes. We're talking
and this this was like geez, twenty five or more
years ago, well over one hundred thousand people that just
converge on this tiny village and.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
They gave me a map, and it's basically just the
entire village of Warrens gets into this. So it's bring
you walk and shoes on top of everything else. It
just covers it.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Yeah, it's a lot of fun, lot of pride growing
the cranberry Now in Wisconsin, Grant is like that what
would you call that? Like it's western Wisconsin? Is it
kind of west central? Black River Falls and Tulma areas?
Is that like the prime spot for the cranberry bogs
in our state?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Folks do say that that is that's the cranberry capital.
But really cranberries go from west central, Central all the
way up into the north. They are scattered all over
Wisconsin pretty much from our midpoint going north. Just the
perfect land for it. And they've been focus have been
on that land for one hundred, one hundred and fifty
(02:39):
years on their cranberry marshes.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
Yeah, and it's it's become a lucrative business. I mean,
talk about a versatile fruit. I mean old school days,
what you had cranberry's maybe once a year with your
Thanksgiving meal. But now, I mean the craze has been
around forever in a day, but that just I mean
just said it a fire. As far as all these
different things they're doing with cranberries, well the more we.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Learn about it, the cooler agains. I mean, it's just
every single time we learn something new about the cranberry,
we use it in a different way, it just gets
that much more cool and that much more a part
of our lives. So it's if you want to, if
you compare it to other berries that are out there,
then the cranberries they are grown so much more ecologically.
(03:28):
They are incredibly healthy for the body because they have
this waxy coating that are a little bit like tanks,
so they are shipped a lot easier and they stay
fresh a lot longer, and then once you start getting
into the inside of one. We're only just now starting
to learn all of the positives that come out of cranberry.
I mean, we always hear that it's anything for uti,
(03:52):
they help to prevent that type of thing, but we're
starting to be able to learn that a lot of
the anthicianos that are inside of it, It affects a
lot of the back area inside of your body, and
we're starting to be able to hear all of the
benefits that go on. We keep hearing things like free
radicals and pieces like that, but it's free radical is
(04:13):
just basically whatever is just bad for us that's out
inside of the environment, and so much of the cranberry
will grab that in your body, hold on to it,
and help your body to be able to get rid
of it at the same time. So they're healthy, whether
you like them a little bit sour, which is kind
of my preference, or swingeing dried which is a huge preference,
(04:33):
and juices, muffins, you name it. It's just so incredibly versatile.
You don't need to purchase them from another country, have
them put on a boat and brought to Wisconsin. It's
going to be your neighbor and your backyard or just
down the road. And that's about as far as they came.
So I don't know what will be more positive.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
Absolutely, And yeah, that's a huge point. You make grant
with a lot of our fruits and veggies, even more
so veggies, like I love avocados. The avocados in Wisconsin
are you know, they're they're doable, they're fine, they'll fit
the bill. But if you've ever been to like southwestern
state where you get them, like California, southern California, you
(05:17):
get those like fresh fresh, it's a whole different taste.
And that's what we're you know, we get to have
that experience with granberry here in Wisconsin.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
That's exactly it's It was probably in a marsh a
few days before it hit your grocery store. And if
you're grabbing them in October November, the taste is through
the roof. It's yeah, you couldn't do any better. It's
great for the state, it's great for the economy, it's
being better for your body.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
And now this year. What what's the cranberry crop looking like?
I know, you know, we had a wild I don't
need to tell you, but the weather was was rather
moody this year.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
Goody is a good word. I wouldn't even say downright
tick off at times, but yes, I.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
Would think with a cranberry in the bogs, I would think, Okay,
so you get a lot of rain, that shouldn't make
any difference, but I probably does. Huh.
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Well, there's always too much of a good thing. And
this year we really did push the whole rain side
of things, and we did. It's the rain wasn't as
much of our issue. We had two big pieces, which
was the incredibly warm winter here inside of Wisconsin. So
one of our biggest and most natural, say, herbicides that
(06:39):
we use is ice. I mean, so when we sit
back when we say things like it's one of our
biggest insexicides is ice. Fungicides is sand. I mean, this
is it doesn't get much more natural than that. But
this year, because we had it so warm and we
had very quick cold spurts, so one of the ways
(07:00):
that we protect the cranberries is we put a layer
of ice on them. They can handle that temperature just fine,
and the ice protects them from getting any colder than
basically thirty two degrees. It keeps the wind off of them,
all that kind of fun stuff. So when Wisconsin will
drop to negative ten, negative fifteen, negative twenty, it's they're
(07:23):
protected by that ice and will keep ice on top
of them for most of the winter, again protecting them.
But because we had it so warm, it was tough
to keep ice on the top, and when we had
those quick cold snaps, there was nothing to be able
to protect the vines. Because those vines stay. They're not
like other crops where we tell them out the plant indulance.
(07:46):
There are vines in many marshes that are older than
I am, and which is just baffling. But because of
that process, we had a lot of winter damage. And
then if winter damage wasn't enough, we had those big,
big hailstorms that came and they were kind of hit
and this, and then they get grand arias or tanks.
(08:08):
So when you get hail coming down the side of
golf balls or even softballs, it can leave a lot
of our marshes looking like mulch. And they needed they'll
need time to be able to grow back. Again, so
we did have some weather issues this year. To be honest,
we had such level of weather issues that I'm proud
of our growers because they were out when we're talking
(08:32):
about those varying temperatures, it's they do frost watches. They
were staying awake many nights making sure that their vines
were taken care of. It's these are their homes, these
are their livelihoods. These are vines their grandparents and great
grandparents had actually planted, so they take care of them
like they take care of children.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Sure. Absolutely, As far as around the nation, I mean
was Scott we're definitely, what like in the top three
or definitely top five when it comes to cranberry production.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Right we are number one, are we really go Wisconsin?
We are the top cranberry producer by far within the
United States. So we actually account for right around so
this year we're going to account for about sixty one
percent of the US production. Last year we were at
(09:25):
sixty two, so we did fall by a percentage point.
Almost everybody within the country, if they're producing cranberry's had
some kind of weather issue this year so that they're
down as well. So our percentages stayed about the Saint.
But we're about sixty one percent of the US production,
which is amazing.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
That that is because I I thought, how long have
we been number one? Or does it go do we
trade off on and off of like Massachusetts or Vermont
or something.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
It's been a long I don't know the exact year,
but it's been a long long time, to be honest.
So we are producing somewhere around five million barrels of
cranberries every single year, and a barrel is about one
hundred pounds of cranberry, so it's not hard to be
able to do that math. Massachusetts does come in at
(10:20):
about half of what we do, and that's sort of
been the direction that things have gone in for a while.
We have more space, we have wonderful farm protections that
our state government has helped provide us with. Wisconsin is
a state that takes their farm usage and their farmers
(10:42):
incredibly seriously. And it's through a lot of those blessings
that Wisconsin is able to do what they do.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
And there's a good reason, well, just the livelihood of
so many Wisconsin nights depend on this, and also it
brings in quite a bit of money. Do you have
many like dollar figures on how much cranberry production revenue
that is brought in.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Yeah, so we bring in about a billion dollars a
year to yeah two Wisconsin, we're employing nearly four thousand people,
and you then start thinking about the indirect pieces of
how those four thousand people reach out across the state
at the same time. But yeah, it is a big
(11:27):
impact for the state. For the land. About twenty one
thousand acres of Wisconsin is devoted towards Cranberry's where across
twenty counties, and it's about two hundred and fifty families
who have been at it for generations.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Yeah, and Grant, That's the interesting point here I'm wondering
is you know we hear of hobby farms. Is cranberry
farming is something you can just pick up and give
it a go, or does it have to have that
whole history and going down through the generations, or I mean,
do you get startups.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
People do start it as a hobby, and they'll typically
may have some smaller marshes. We see that in other
states more so than in Wisconsin. Within Wisconsin, there is
such this heritage that's behind it as well. So if
there was an individual in Wisconsin that wanted to start
cranberry farming, they would probably contact four or five of
(12:30):
the different marshes that are out there who are incredibly helpful.
As such a tight knit community, these guys help each
other all the time, and they would be able to
help them sort of get started. The nice thing is
that we have space in Wisconsin, so we have nice
straight lines and we're able to make larger marshes that
(12:53):
are out there, whereas you may find some other areas
where space is a little bit harder to be able
to find or property price. This are through the roof,
and sometimes you got to grow where you grown those
straight lines, which makes harvesting more difficult.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Yeah, because correct me if I'm wrong. I don't believe
we have any cranberry operations here in southern Wisconsin. It's
mostly central and northern, right.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
That off the top of my head, I would agree.
If I am missing a farmer to our south and
they're listening in, I am so sorry, but I think
that is mostly central to the north.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Yeah, and probably the longer winters would play never mind,
I mean land values down here, you know, are substantially
more than some areas to the north, and what have
you in space is also a challenge, but I'd imagine
climate wise, that's just a better fit for them Central
and northern.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
It is because that ice is so incredibly important to
what we do and how we keep our land almost
as pure as it can be. When I sit back
and I say that, it's like, well, ice is one
of our biggest pesticides, it's true. We want those hard freezes.
When we say that ice is one of the best
ways that we get rid of wheat, it's true because
(14:10):
we want those hard freezes that are out there. So
ice is incredibly important to cranberry cranberry production.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Yeah, I was going to ask as far as like
what sort of do you have to use pesticides? Are
there any sort of insects that can be I'd imagine
even in the water that can be a detriment to
the production of cranberries.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
There are, but it's comparably cranberries use very few pesticides.
And we're also blessed with the University Wisconsin system and
their researchers. We have a large number of folks here
in Wisconsin within UW that their research is completely on
(14:56):
cranberry and they will also pay attention to a little
bug call the leaf popper, and they are mapping the
life cycle. They are mapping everything that there is about it,
so our folks, they don't do widespread pesticides at all.
The researchers have provided us with where is the bug
(15:17):
the most vulnerable, So instead of doing a car bombing campaign,
we're more of snipers. We know exactly where where that
little bug is the most vulnerable, which allows us one
to control costs because those things do cost money, but
at the same time to be able to use just
(15:40):
the least amount that we positively can. I'm sure well
folks may have heard about like the Sinful Seven for fruit,
which things that are covered with pesticides and pieces like that.
Cranberry has never even been close to that. It's and
for these reasons. It's cranberries grow in Wisconsin whether we
(16:02):
are here or not, so we didn't introduce these crops
to Wisconsin. They're used to our environment. They're used to
all the little critters that are around at the same time,
so there's very little that we sometimes have to do
to them because this is their natural environment.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
Now, what is like we're coming up on the harvest,
right harvest begins late next month until mid October. But
like year round cranberry growers, is there ever a break,
like a couple months off or I suppose you always
got a I don't know. I'm not a grower.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
There is. I'm waiting to find it myself.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
So take us from like from like January to when
we start the harvest in late September. What's going on then.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
So they'll do things like if we call it standing.
So what we're doing is we're putting sand out on
those January marshes. And by putting an extra layer of sand,
what it's doing is it is protecting our vine somewhat.
But it's also putting down this layer sand keeps weeds
(17:16):
from growing or keeps things besides the cranberries from grow.
Cranberries love that sandy soil, weeds not as much. So
the sand that we actually add to the marshes is
going to keep us from having to use herbicide in
the future.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Yeah, it's really you can't shake a stick at it.
It's this is just it's a wonderful it's a wonderful
fruit and it's in its natural environment here in Wisconsin.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
So do you just do the sand in in January
or is that a continuous you got, because sand will
erode over some time, but it's probably pretty sturdy to
stick around for how long it's so it's a.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
They will do it every well sometimes usually every year,
and they're putting that sand out there onto the marshes
and it does stick around for quite some time. So
and because the cranberries stick around for quite some time.
If you get a tilled crop, you always hear about
the loss of top soil. Well, that's where that goes
(18:21):
is because you always have to be able to till
that soil up. Because those cranberries stay there, that sand
gets incorporated inside of their roots, and you actually get
history under the ground. So you could do core samples
underneath the ground and start looking at the root systems
going back decades if you really needed to. But that's
(18:44):
also provided. It's one of the reasons why cranberries are
so strong, because they're not tilled and they stay inside
of that ground. They have co evolved with a lot
of soil fungus, a lot of soil bacteria, and not
all fungus and bacteria are bad, and they co evolved
with that. So it's almost its own little ecosystems in there, and.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
So after the sanding and then it's just the monitoring.
Do they have to.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Well, they're looking at they're looking at the growth, so
looking at the growth of the cranberries, making sure that
they're getting the spread on the marsh that they actually want.
So cranberries will grow in kind of two different directions.
We get the fruit that is starting to be able
to grow up, but you also get things called runners,
(19:33):
which is where it expands across the marsh because they
do grow just like vines and they're trying to be
so our farmers will be trying to help monitor how
much they're allowing it to be able to grow, say
horizontally or the runners, as compared to how much they're
actually wanting it to be able to grow up. The
(19:54):
pieces that run side aside, they don't necessarily bear fruit,
So we're caust looking to be able to find where's the.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Happy medea And do they develop that red color or
is that something as they ripen and they change.
Speaker 2 (20:10):
That red color is believe it or not, sunscreen. So
as we get a little bit colder in time period
and as the sun sets lower in the sky, what
we have is we have the berry that is investing
in the protection of itself, so it starts to develop
(20:31):
this anthocyanin. So that's that red color. And if you
go to any of the dietary or health talks that
are out there, people love anto cyan So that color
starts to develop as a sunscreen as the sun sets
lower to be able to help protect the berry.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
What is the difference between because I've heard obviously cranberry
the marshes, I've also heard bogs. But they're not the
same thing, are they? Or are they just the term
is common enough, they're just interchangeable one for the other.
Or do some do a bog and some do a marsh?
Speaker 2 (21:07):
Within Cranberry Wisconsinight's typically call it marshes. Everybody else do
they call them bogs? As a former biology teacher, I
gotta tell you, marsh is actually probably more of the
correct term because we had inflow and outflow of water.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Got it? Okay? So you used to be a how
did you get into becoming Did you grow up on
a cranberry marsh or how did you take this direction
to become the executive director of the cranberry growers?
Speaker 2 (21:38):
So I grew up in the hills of West Virginia
and enjoying all of the culture that was through there,
and definitely you can imagine some farms that were there.
But from an early age, I had the philosophy that
was instilled with me that people should know two pieces
of biology more so than anything else. One is their
(22:01):
own body. It's a machine that you are given from
day one and you will have throughout your life, and
you should know how it works. The next one is
where does your food come from? Because that's fueling that
machine at the same time, and I sometimes I see
tiktoks that are out there, and sometimes kids are asking
(22:21):
It's like, why do farmers work so hard when all
they have to do is go to the grocery store
and Oh God, we need to fix this. We need
to fix this yesterday. So all of those philosophies, I
started going into science education, agricultural agri education. I worked
(22:43):
for about fourteen years at North Carolina State University within
science education agricultural education, and I've done a few other
things that were out there, but that's where I was
the happiest. So I reached a point in my life
where I wanted to be happy again and I started
looking at going back into agriculture, agriculture education. I've built
(23:08):
programs and I've built organizations throughout my life. And I
met the Cranberry Growers folks in December of last year,
and I got to tell you, it is very difficult
to not fall in love with these guys once you
talked to them for about fifteen minutes, and I started
(23:29):
to realize this is where my happy will be and
I could not I could not be happier with that decision.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
Well, and it's it's not like this is some fly
by night organization I see here at that The Growers
Association was founded in eighteen eighty seven, good.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
God, exactly. And imagine how long it took the farmers
to be able to come together as an organization. So
they have been farming Cranberry's inside of Wisconsin before Wisconsin
was Wisconsin.
Speaker 1 (24:00):
I'm glad you brought up the educational aspect of it,
because you know, we were talking about Warren's just the
small little stop alongside the road. It is usually until
end of September. But there is also a Cranberry museum there.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
Correct, there is, as a matter of fact, and they're
doing they're renovating various pieces of it. I've been able
to actually see they have a nice new honeybee exhibit,
which I find fascinating, and so do most of the kids.
It's adults. We sometimes it's like we want to be
a little bit more polite, But most adults we walk
(24:33):
up to it like they're six years old again and
they're seeing all these honey bees and like, oh my goodness,
I can find the queen. So yes, it's a wonderful facility.
I love the fact that they are branching out and
they're including things like the bees helping us understand our
own connection with bees and how important they are to
(24:56):
human survival.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Yeah, that's a topic for a whole other day.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Oh boy, it is.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
And I didn't realize. I was just doing a little
background brushing up on the state and Cranberry's and we
have what's is it marked us so Wisconsin Cranberry Highway.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
We do as a matter of fact, and that's going
to that is going to start to get very busy
in the next month or so. So we have a
lot of Cranberry marshes up and down that Cranberry Highway,
and we get a lot of folks coming through.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Is that like, is that like highway like twenty one?
Is there a certain highway like twenty one or seventy three?
I know those are kind of big highways around there.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
Oh, yes, it's I could look.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
That's that's okay. You don't have to worry because we are.
We only got a couple more minutes here. So but yeah,
in that that sort of it goes everywhere. It runs
from Rapids Wisconsin, Rapids, Nicusa, Babcock, Pittsville, that that whole
area kind of southwest of Stephen's Point.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
And that's exactly it. It's it's not even just one highway,
it's that entire I think it's there. Yeah, and folks
that are coming out to be able to look at
the leaves, well, the best thing in the world to
be able to do is look at the leaves with
the grandairy color, and that's it's a visual that just
gets burned on your soul. It's just so pretty. The
only thing that I would throw out is a PSA
(26:23):
that it's uh, folks are going to be working in
those marshes and we get we always get folks pulling
off to the side and you can take your pictures
on the side of the road and things like that.
But please don't go walking into those marshes uninvited. It's dangerous.
So yeah, it's please understand. These are people's homes, these
(26:44):
are their livelihoods. Yeah, and a farm is not what
we would call the safest place on earth, So make
sure you've asked permission and you have somebody there that's
going to be able to help you keep safe.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
So it brings something of besides just mark geting the
product cranberry related products. It has a little bit of
a tourism following as well. I mean it's not as
big as looking around at the leaves, but it's something
to look at. Huh.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Yeah, we have several folks that have sort of started
to dip their toe into agritourism, and they will they'll
run you through. They've gotten special vehicles. They will run
you around their marshes. They will show you how things work.
They'll get you a set of waiters and you can
do the photo op inside of a marsh as well.
(27:32):
It's very easy to be able to google who those
folks are. I would highly recommend if they have reservations,
if they have tickets, you get into that as fast
as you can, because there is always more demand than
we actually have space.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
Okay sure. And also this year, in twenty twenty four,
I also want to give the cranberry kudos to its
twentieth anniversary as Wisconsin's official state fruit.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
Yes, ma'am, we are. We had a big to do
with that. At the Wisconsin State there we introduced the
cranberry kringle. Two. You think the nice pieces, Oh my goodness,
you'd have no idea. We'll get you one. We're not
losing that recipe or the folks that made it for us,
I guarantee that. But yes, it is amazing. We celebrated
(28:24):
it all the way through. The only thing that makes
that cranberry kringle better is that actually finds good old
fashioned Wisconsin cheese and eat that at the same time. Yeah,
I agree, you go. Here's my holiday present everybody, all.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Right, you guys, Yeah, we're coming into my favorite and
I'm not alone obviously, meal season, Holiday meal season with Thanksgiving,
and I'm a huge cranbery. I have to my Thanksgiving dinner.
It just isn't the same unless you have cranberry there
with a turkey and stuffing. In fact, I've been known
to pack my own if we're going to a relatives.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
To have it fresh cranberry. You have it there with
the turkey. You have it on the table. Throw a
little Wisconsin brie inside of that too, and yeah, you're
a legend.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Now I'm ending this on a hungry note. But Grant,
it has been very interesting to hear all the different
facts and fun stuff about Cranberry's here in Wisconsin. And
again earlier in the program. I mean, I was surprised
to Yeah, we're number one and have been for quite
a while as far as cranberry production in the United States.
(29:36):
Just another reason to be proud here in Wisconsin. Grand
Holly has been my guest this morning, the executive director
of the Wisconsin State Cranberry's Association. You've been listening to
Madison for them.
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