Rutgers program teaches students science, culture of cranberry farming

When Andrew Lee, a seventh-generation family member growing up on the Lee Brothers cranberry farm near Chatsworth, was asked to participate in the cranbassador program this year at the Philip E. Marucci Center for Blueberry and Cranberry Research and Extension, a substation of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station of Rutgers University in Burlington County, he was admittedly a little hesitant.

Photo by Ryan Morrill
Andrew Lee, 11, helps corral
cranberries at his family's farm
during the fall harvest ritual.

The 11-year-old has been immersed in the cranberry farming culture practically since he was born. Every year since 1868, the family has harvested the farmland’s 18 cranberry bogs for shipment, in recent years, to the Ocean Spray processing plant, located four miles down the road.

Needless to say, Andrew knows a thing or two about the industry. But after reluctantly attending the program, he said he was surprised to learn that he did not, in fact, know everything about cranberries.

“I learned so much from that program,” said Andrew. “I knew a majority of things about cranberries, but half of the things I never even heard of before.”

Andrew said he learned that cranberries, which were developed by Native Americans, were named after sandhill cranes, a type of bird usually found eating the berries.

“If you blur your eyes a little bit when looking at a cranberry blossom,” he said, “they actually resemble a crane’s head.”

The cranbassador program is dedicated to educating Mullica Township school students from sixth through 12th grades on the science and culture of cranberry farming. The program started in 2009 as a way for area children to become better acquainted with the history of the region, as well as to increase tourism at the annual Cranberry Festival in Chatsworth, where the students lead the public on tours at local cranberry farms.

“They can actually take people out to the farm during the cranberry harvest and actually explain it to them and have a pretty rewarding experience. People feel very comfortable asking questions and conversing with the kids. It’s public speaking. Not a lot of sixth-graders do public speaking to adults,” said Peter Oudemans, an associate professor and plant pathologist at Rutgers who studies the diseases of the fruit. “In order to do that,” he added, “the kids have to be pretty knowledgeable. So the kids really learn a lot about the subject.”

Andrew originally believed that cranberries, which contain more than 40 seeds in one berry, are often grown from replanting the seeds in the ground. However, he learned that the berries are commonly grown from vines that have been planted in acidic soil.

The national cranberry center, first established in 1918 in Whitesbog, the largest cranberry farm at the time, includes about 20 acres of cranberry bogs that the students can use for exploration, focusing on all aspects of cranberry production and health research, including etymology, breeding, integrated pest management, molecular biology and health benefits.

Andrew was especially interested to learn that cranberries are good for the body’s digestive system. A compound found in cranberries, called proanthocyanidin, can even help prevent urinary tract infections, he explained.

The cranbassador program is led by scientists and researchers at the station, as well as by older kids already in the program. The program includes nearly 30 students.

“Most of the younger kids now are a little bit shy to speak because you have the older kids who are more experienced,” said Oudemans. “But the older kids encourage the younger kids to speak, so we have a lot of peer-to-peer teaching.”

Through the coursework, Andrew said he learned that cranberry farmers have many different theories for farming. After he attends college and pursues a career in Major League Baseball, he said he hopes to take over the family business and continue his own family’s farming traditions.

The cranbassador students are challenged to answer questions about the cranberry industry, giving them insight into the biology and science of cranberry farming, as well as instilling an appreciation for the labor. The children even get a chance to strap on hip waders and immerse themselves in a flooded cranberry bog during the annual harvest ritual in October.

“Classroom learning can be very dry, so you don’t retain a lot. But when you go and apply it in the field and learn from experience, it sort of opens up a whole new world, like, ‘Wow, this actually means something. Science is a useful tool,’” said Oudemans. “That’s what we try to impart on the kids. We want it to come alive.”

Around Chrismastime, near the end of the school year and the annual cranbassador program, the students take their harvested berries to school where they learn how to make cranberry sauce and discuss canning.

Andrew does not attend the Mullica Township School District, but said he does carry on a family tradition with his cousins of making cranberry sauce at his relatives’ house during Thanksgiving. Although his grandparents no longer string cranberries for the Christmas tree, he said he hopes to start that tradition again in his house.

— Kelley Anne Essinger


This article was published in The SandPaper.