From farm to table

If it wasn’t for the harvest season, a cranberry field is rather uninteresting. The berries grow low to the ground on trailing vines, giving the field an appearance of an overgrown lawn.

Cranberry plants are low-growing perennial vines.

Cranberry plants are low-growing perennial vines.

"Actually, a lot of people think cranberries grow in the water, but the cranberry doesn't like water,” says Duley.

That’s why the field is kept relatively dry until harvesting season from late September to the end of October.

Duley says a dry harvest -- where berries are individually hand picked -- could easily take his team two weeks. But a wet harvest, where the field is flooded, will typically take only two days.

The field is flooded leaving the water at a depth of six to ten inches. The growers then use beaters to churn the water and whack the berries off the vines.

Crews work in a team of six to ensure that no cranberry is left behind

Crews work in a team of six to ensure that no cranberry is left behind

The farmers head out in a row, slightly offset from one another, so that no berry is left un-beaten.

The beater pulls the cranberries off the vines.

The beater pulls the cranberries off the vines.

Each berry has four air pockets, which makes it naturally buoyant.

Once the field is completely beaten, the water is raised to approximately two to three feet.

The first beater often acts as the GPS for the rest of the team, says Duley.

The first beater often acts as the GPS for the rest of the team, says Duley.

Watch the floating cranberries.

The berries are typically moved toward a specific corner of the field by farmers, wearing hipwaders, who corral the berries using rakes and floating beams called booms through the chilly water.

Workers wear hipwaders that keep them dry as they pull the berries.

Workers wear hipwaders that keep them dry as they pull the berries.

The berries are then pumped out using suction. Then they're rinsed with fresh water and separated from the debris.

The cranberries are pumped out of the field.

The cranberries are pumped out of the field.

The berries are then loaded into a truck, and shipped to a processing facility.

Cranberries come in a range of colours.

Cranberries come in a range of colours.

Approximately 97 per cent of the cranberries farmed in B.C. are sent to Washington State where they are processed for Ocean Spray.

Duley says a significant portion of the workforce are migrant workers. His farm employs 30 people for roughly eight months of the year and provides them with housing.

“We’re lucky to have this labour force from Mexico,” he says. “Otherwise you can't find any workers. We advertise and don't even get any reply from local people, because it's hard work.”