Tag Archives: 2014 harvest

Until next year!

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Work on the renovation continues, but our team took a break in the middle of the week to celebrate a successful harvest and bid farewell to our seasonal team members until next year. The harvest lunch is always a good time, and this year CEO Bill Haines was especially pleased. “We learned a lot this year. We tried new tech and brought in the second biggest crop we’ve ever had: 316,000 barrels. And when you add up our working days, we did it on only 32 days. No one else can do that anywhere. And we also saw what the future looks like. Panama #6, our best renovated bed, is only four years old and had 493 barrels per acre. When you’re looking at the bogs we’re renovating now, you’re looking at our future. And our future is a great one, because we’re getting better at everything we do.”

He also had high praise for our team members in general. “Some of you leaving this week have been here since March, helping out with frost and everything else. You all did a great job with the harvest; you come back year after year to do whatever it takes, and we’re looking forward to seeing you next year. It’s been great to have you. And for our regular team: you all did a great job as well. Now we get to spend our winter building new bogs so we’re ready when these guys come back. We all learned how to do new things, and we’re going to keep doing that, because I know you’re up to it. I’m proud of our team: we have the best team in the industry, hands down, and it’s only the beginning.”

GM Fred Torres also had nothing but good things to say: “We really appreciate the help. Sometimes we ask these guys to come up last minute; we do try to give advance notice, but sometimes we need someone now, and they always show up. There are long hours during harvest, but we get through it and we appreciate their hard work and their time here. And we got a lot of work done after harvest in a very short time this fall, and we’re especially grateful for that.”

All three harvest team leaders, when asked about their crews, immediately answered that theirs was “the best”. Orange Team supervisor Gerardo Ortiz says: “They know what they have to do, and they do it. I trust them to do their job, and they trust me to be there if they need assistance.” Jeremy Fenstermaker agrees: “There is a strong element of trust, and these guys always have each other’s back. They’re hard workers.” Blue Team supervisor Matt Giberson: “We come together as a team, and we work hard as a team, and we do what needs to be done.” (And with Alberto Torres assigned to the Blue Team, Matt also thinks they have the edge on good food.)

With the help of such a fantastic team, Pine Island Cranberry continues to do everything we do better every day!

Season’s End

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Another year, another excellent harvest!

“A lot of good news this year,” says GM Fred Torres. “We broke records on all kinds of bogs this year: new bogs, old bogs, big ones, small ones. The berries were smaller this year, which means less weight and fewer barrels, but even with that we were able to increase the number of berries per acre we grew this year. That’s just fantastic.” A cooler August this year meant smaller fruit. “The berries need some heat in August,” he says. “But we had cooler temperatures this year than we normally do, which starts the color a little earlier and means they’re not going to grow anymore. But we’re still really happy with the crop; we can’t control the weather, but we did everything else we had to do when we had to do it and still brought in an average of over 236 barrels per acre. We can be proud of that.”

Another big triumph this year was the success of the Gates Harrow. “We’re very pleased with Gates Harrow and the time that it takes to do a bog,” Fred says. “Not rushing, just setting the normal pace the machine needs to run. And it picks clean.” The learning curve was a little steep at first, as you would expect. Team member Mickey Mercado had to learn how to move the ramps around as well as set them up for the machine; it has to be right so the tractor can easily turn around with as little overlap as possible. Fred says they got it down to a science: “By the end of the season, Rick [Zapata] couldn’t catch him. He would get to the end, and Mickey would be waiting already. If the guy on the tractor slows down, it’s going to slow down the guy who’s picking. At no time did Rick have to stop because he had to wait for Mickey. They both did really well.” Team members Joel DeJesus and Caesar Colon also put in some time on the new equipment, so when we eventually add another, we’ll have team members who are ready.

We also found out that we can run two crews with one Gates Harrow. “We have to manage the time well, but it can be done,” Fred says. During that particular experiment, the team members usually assigned to the smaller machines were able to do work elsewhere (such as bog clean-up after harvesting), making it an efficient use of time.

Best of all, everyone worked really well together. It can be tough; the crews are out there seven days a week for five weeks, and everyone gets tired toward the end. But we had a strong finish! “We set our target to finish by the end of the month, and we did,” says Fred. “We were done before the weekend and it was great! The weather was good, too. We had the one rough day, which was a little chilly with a lot of rain, but other than that it was good.” And we’re already using the season as a learning experience. “We’re always looking for ways to improve on the good stuff we already have: we have a great team, we have great equipment, but we can always challenge ourselves to do better. We know we can grow ‘em; we did it this year. But we have a lot of work to do this winter, and at the end of it, we’re going to come out of it working more efficiently than we ever have.”

A visit from Cory Booker

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This week, Pine Island Cranberry was pleased to host a visit from Senator Cory Booker and his team! It seems the Senator was happy to visit, as well:

Our tour started with a brief introduction in our main office, and then it was off to see our red October!

The Senator and his team were able to speak with both CEO Bill Haines as well as Dan Crocker, Vice-President of Cooperative Development at Ocean Spray, and learned a tremendous amount about both Pine Island’s history and the cranberry industry in New Jersey. The highlight of the trip was the chance for him to get into waders and help our Orange Team gathering crew bring the crop in.

It was a fantastic chance for him to witness the importance of a clean, abundant water supply for cranberries and the many ways water is crucial to bringing in our crop every year: flooding the bogs for harvest purposes, pest management and fertilizer application, application of sand to bogs during the winter months, and use of irrigation to prevent frost damage, as well as how these production activities remain consistent with good conservation practices.

Other highlights included getting the Senator to taste a raw cranberry. Because cranberries have little natural sugar and need to be sweetened for palatability and processing purposes, getting a reaction from folks who have only tried “finished” products can be fun. The Senator rolled with the punches, however, and inspected them inside and out!

All in all, it was a highly successful day for everyone. “We were proud to have Senator Booker here to show him our operation, and are really pleased that he was so interested in our industry. He was a total good sport and it was really fun to have him,” says Bill. Senator Booker agrees: “It was a great visit. I’m honored to represent [Bill’s] interests and the interests of New Jersey’s farmers in Washington, DC.”

Packing House Team

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The daily routine at our cranberry platform is a simple but continuous process, and relies on constant communication between the team leaders and the packing house team, as well as between the packing house and the receiving station. It remains the same as always: each team on the bogs has been assigned a color: Orange, Blue, or Green. In order to properly track each team’s production, their bogs are assigned a different section on the packing house platform. Each bog is run through the blowers separately. The first load from each new bog has a post-it note attached to it with our Exhibit A number, or bog identification number. It is the team leader’s responsibility every day to let Mike Guest, our facilities supervisor, know what their plan for the day is and to keep him informed of any problems that might occur during the day.

First, the forklift crew, led by Emmanuel Colon, unload the full cranberry boxes from the trucks coming out of the field. If the boxes are coming from the bog that Mike is sending through the blowers, then the forklift crew will dump the cranberries from those boxes into the hoppers. If Mike is not running that particular bog the forklift crew will stack the boxes in the appropriate spot for that crew on the platform. Once the cranberries are poured into the hoppers, they pass along the belt through the blowers, which are used to partially dry the fruit and remove as many of the leaves as possible. Once the leaves are blown out, the fruit drops onto another belt and from there move up the truck elevator into the waiting trailer. Team member Harry Mick keeps the loading moving; he signals our drivers, Josue and Pedro, to keep the trailer inching forward as each section is filled with fruit. It is then his task to halt the line when the trailer is full or the bog is finished in order to bring the next waiting trailer forward.

While all of this is going on, other team members are busy rinsing off the belts in order to keep the equipment as debris-free as possible. They also take advantage of pauses in loading to sweep up the extras and push them toward the debris pile. In addition, everyone pitches in when necessary to clear out the hoppers, which occasionally can get jammed. The last box out of a bog usually has a lot of leaves, grass, and other bog debris, and can clog the line and cause hold-ups both here and at the receiving station if we do not take care of it immediately. Therefore, the constant washing of the equipment and attention to detail by the packing house crew help keep our harvest running.

Mike always welcomes any ideas from his crew to improve the process. “They’re the ones who are on it every day; if they come to me and ask if we can try something, I’ll always see if it’s doable.” He especially relies on the assistance of Emmanuel Colon. Emmanuel, a seasonal team member for seven years, moved up to full-time to assist Mike Guest with our Facilities team. While every day during harvest time is busy, some days are especially hectic, and that’s when Mike relies on Emmanuel the most.

“He’s a hard worker,” Mike says. “Not only is he willing to do anything, he’s also willing to stop and ask questions if it’s something he’s not sure about; he won’t just bluff his way through it. I never have to worry if I have to go somewhere; when Emmanuel is left in charge, things get done and they get done right.”

A devoted husband and father of three, Emmanuel is also highly versatile with excellent technical skills. In his time here, he has helped build the new well at Caley, assisted with the new irrigation lines at Boricua, and done numerous carpentry jobs, both large and small.

“Emmanuel’s very flexible, with a great work ethic,” GM Fred Torres says. “I know he’s busy this time of year, but if I ask him to do something, he’ll get it done. And I don’t have to go back and check; if it’s on his list, it’ll get done. He’s organized. He writes it down, he keeps track.” We’re proud to have a team member like Emmanuel, who is always willing to do “whatever it takes” to help Pine Island Cranberry keep growing!

Green Team – Gathering

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Pine Island Cranberry’s harvest teams kicked into high gear this week, and our Green Team was out at our Warehouse bogs for the last time before their upcoming 2015 renovation! CEO Bill Haines outlined the upcoming renovation plans back in August: “We’ve known that the Early Blacks are our weakest variety and eventually need to be entirely replaced, and decided to become more aggressive about it. By 2022, we’ve targeted 769 acres to replace Early Blacks with hybrid varieties, and we’re going to do it by using some of the same techniques they use in Wisconsin.” He points out some of results already taking place at Panama, finished in 2012. “We already had a lot of great fruit after only two growing seasons,” he says. “In 2013, we had nearly 218 barrels to the acre in Panama #6. This year, we had 493 barrels to the acre. That’s the direction we want to be going.”

In the meantime, our team was doing whatever it takes to make sure the final Warehouse harvest was completed quickly and efficiently, just as they always do!

Team member Bob Heritage was hauling to the packing house for the Green Team this week, one of the many tasks he has performed over the last thirty-four years he’s been with us. A former dairy farmer, Bob says, “I told Bill when I started, I don’t know anything about cranberries…but if there’s a cow in the bog I can get her out!” Fortunately, we’ve never had to deal with that issue, but Bob has proven over and over again his drive to learn and his willingness to do what he has to do when it’s time to do it. “I’ve done just about everything,” Bob says. “I’ve worked frost, renovation…but cranberry season is my favorite part. You get to see what you’ve been working toward all year, and it’s beautiful to look at, besides.”

Bog renovation manager Joe Colon has nothing but good things to say about Bob. “He’s a hard worker,” Joe says. “And he never complains. If you tell him he needs to do something that he’s never done before, he’s not afraid or worried. He learns it, and tries to figure out ways to make it even better.”

While Bob is pondering retirement, he’s not quite ready to go yet: “When I first started here, we were building the bogs at Black Rock. Now [along with Warehouse] they’re on the schedule to be renovated next year. I’ll get to see the entire cycle. There’s not many people who can say that.”

Gates Harrow

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We mentioned a few weeks ago that our equipment team was working on a new machine for our harvest season. The Gates Harrow is the latest addition to our equipment program and everyone is very excited to try it come harvest time. “It’s much less labor intensive,” said manager Louis Cantafio at the time. “We typically run a six man picking crew and their target is about 12.5 acres per day. On a more level set of bogs, they can do more than that, but with a Gates Harrow we’ve seen a two-man crew get through 40 acres. It’s a lot more efficient.”

The Gates Harrow is a simple machine set up to cover more ground. At the front is a rod which holds vines down to the ground; as the tractor moves forward, the berries pop off the stems and roll up over the tines on the rake.

It’s not as hard on the plants as our usual method, and our renovation program is geared for increased efficiency by being user-friendly for equipment like this. Team supervisor Jeremy Fenstermaker thinks there are several advantages to the new equipment: “The biggest advantage is labor. It also picks a lot cleaner; it knocks almost everything off the vines. With the standard reels you’ll still find some berries left here and there. There’s also some fuel savings with just one tractor running.” While the machine uses less water for picking than the reels, the bogs still require additonal flooding for gathering, which is still done in the usual way. “Adding water isn’t a problem,” Jeremy says. “If you figure out timing it works out fine. As long as Rick [Zapata] is ahead it’s not that big a deal.” Another advantage: “The fruit is ‘cleaner’ as far as debris: fewer weeds, vines, twigs, all that kind of thing. Which means Mike can get fruit out faster at the packing house because his crew can process it faster.”

CEO Bill Haines is pleased with how things are turning out: “It’s been a steep learning curve, but I’m encouraged by the outcome,” he says. “Jeremy, Rick, and Mickey [Mercado] have done a great job learning the best way to use it. Every day is going a little better; I’m very pleased with the results.”

Interested in seeing the machine in action up close? Watch as team leader Rick Zapata takes us on a brief tour around the bog:

GoPro Gates Harrow from Pine Island Cranberry on Vimeo.