ACGA Summer Field Day – 2013

This past January, several team members attended the American Cranberry Growers Association’s annual winter meeting. This week, the ACGA held their yearly Summer Field Day at the Rutgers Marucci Cranberry/Blueberry Research Center, where various members of the cranberry community have an opportunity to visit the research center and check out ongoing experiments of the Center’s scientists like Peter Oudemans, Cesar Rodriguez-Saona, and Nick Vorsa.

Among the topics of particular interest to the Pine Island team were the ongoing efforts to breed rot-resistant varieties, disease control in bed establishment, and a new talk on the benefits of controlled burning. The biggest impression, however, was left by ACGA board president Shawn Cutts, who introduced a new informal “grower demo” session, where growers are invited to “show and tell” something they’ve discovered or developed. The first thing Shawn discussed was the travelling weather station with the water level sensor that Pine Island borrowed from him this past winter. GM Fred Torres is a big fan of the system. “When we tried it over the winter, we got great results. And if something went wrong, if a board popped off the gate or something, we found out right away and could fix it sooner rather than later. And the guys could get more sleep!”

The second item Shawn demonstrated was also a big hit with the Pine Island team members in attendance. Red maple is lovely in a forest, but invades cranberry beds as windblown seed. Removal of red maple is a big part of every grower’s weed control program. Hand removal has been effective but time-consuming.

The Cutts family found the Extractigator, and haven’t looked back since. Pine Island team members who have tried it are all enthusiastic. “It’s so much faster,” supervisor Jeremy Fenstermaker says. “One or two people can clear a bed with these a lot more efficiently.” The design “allows for an effortless uproot”. There was some discussion about just having our equipment team build one, but ultimately “we decided that there was no reason not to buy one for ourselves,” says PIICM manager Cristina Tassone. “It’s already well-designed and well-built; we don’t really need to improve upon what’s already there!”

Pine Island CEO Bill Haines got a lot of the demo and other sessions. “I always enjoy the summer meeting,” he says. “You get a lot of give and take from other growers. During the busy growing season, you seldom have the chance to talk to them about what they’re doing: how they see the crop, what new things they’re trying. It’s a great chance for growers to exchange ideas. I thought Shawn’s idea for the ‘show and tell’ was excellent. It gives us some ideas how to apply them to our own operation. We’re always looking for ways to get better.”