Author Archives: stef

MFS Intensive Learning 2015

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This week, Pine Island Cranberry was pleased to host a group of students from Moorestown Friends, who were doing an intensive learning unit on the Pine Barrens!

They started their visit with an introduction to the place by CEO Bill Haines, who talked a little bit about family, history, tradition, and of course, the water. He then turned the program over to PIICM Manager Cristina Tassone and New Production Manager Mike Haines.

Cristina and Mike took the students through a slideshow tour of the yearly life cycle of the cranberry harvest, answering questions along the way. The students showed a lot of curiosity, especially about the water management. Cristina and Mike also spent some time explaining how we take a corporate structure and make it work for the unique needs of an agricultural operation.

After that, it was time to get everyone’s feet in the bog! The students took a walk into a bog where the winter flood had been temporarily removed for sprinkler installation and got a closer look at uprights, runners, and budding, as well as the ditches for our irrigation system. They also got to explore the platform at the packing house.

Their biggest lesson learned, in their own words, was “how essential water quality is to cranberry growing, and how much the company does to protect this natural resource.”

It’s always a pleasure to show people what we do here year-round, especially with such a lively and attentive group! We’re looking forward already to next year and the opportunity to show more of the next generation what we do and who we are.

Providing opportunity!

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Spring is coming, slowly but surely! At least, that’s what the calendar says. We’re not as convinced.

While south Jersey is struggling through that final vestige of winter, Pine Island Cranberry is looking forward to the future! Our team is once again seeking enthusiastic people to join our team and learn the cranberry business from the ground up through our internship and externship program, designed to provide hands-on experience in all aspects of growing cranberries. From scouting and water management to bog renovation and maintenance, interested students will learn the scope of an Integrated Crop management program.

“Our main goal in creating this program is education,” says PIICM Manager Cristina Tassone. “We’re educating people on who we are and what we do here, as well as increasing awareness of the cranberry industry in general. But in addition to that, we’re hoping that giving interested students the chance to experience the growing process will help them make a decision on their career.” No matter what, everyone wins: “People looking at the position already have an interest; they may fall in love with it, or they may decide it’s not for them, but they’ll have the experience and we’ll have worked with motivated people who can pass the word on to others who might be interested.”

“Pine Island has an aggressive growth plan and implementing a strong internship program is a great way to give us strength for our future,” Cristina says. “It’s a great opportunity to either spend one or two days shadowing a team member [via an externship] or to get more involved in the day-to-day operations and see the whole picture as well has have that experiential learning.” If the interested student attends Rutgers University, they also have the opportunity (upon Rutgers’ approval) to gain three academic credits as well as knowledge about the industry domestically and internationally. This year, we’re once again hosting Javier Ruiz from Chile, giving interns the chance to speak with him about cranberries in South America and how his expertise helps us here in New Jersey.

COO Bryan vonHahmann is enthusiastic about the program. “It’s a net benefit for both the students and the farm,” he says. “It gives us an opportunity to gain ideas and feedback from a fresh set of eyes. We get a lot of people who haven’t been exposed to the cranberry business, and that gives us the chance to look through a different lens.” As for the students, he says, “Candidates get an opportunity to gain exposure and experience in agriculture and cranberries as well as what I believe is a world-class operation. It’s a chance to work with a great team of people. It’s unique, too, in that they’re not in an office. I don’t believe that’s typical any more.”

Click here for more information about our internship and externship program. We’d love to hear from you!

Facilities: Camp renovation

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One of the principles of Pine Island Cranberry’s facilities management program is care: making sure all facilities are safe, clean, and attractive. Particular care is taken every year to maintain the camp to our own high standards in order to attract and retain seasonal team members. To that end, in 2008 we built a new seasonal camp, which our team has impeccably maintained.

This year, we are continuing to uphold our high standards by renovating the older camp buildings. “The bigger camp building hasn’t been used in a long time,” says Facilities and Equipment manager Louis Cantafio. “We like to take care of our seasonal guys, because they do so much for us, and Bill [CEO Bill Haines] is a big fan of efficiency and prefers to use our resources to the fullest extent possible.” This made updating the old camp a no-brainer. The building can hold up to six people, each of whom will get their own room with attached bath. “It’s going to look really good,” says GM Fred Torres. “Everything’s new. New windows, new doors, new bathrooms, new kitchen. It’s going to be really, really nice in there.” In addition, there will be a screened porch area off the kitchen to allow the team to comfortable outside seating during the warmer months.

We are also going to be updating the building known as the “little camp”. Formerly a three-bedroom building with a tiny combined living/kitchen area, the building will have two bedrooms, an enlarged living area, and a renovated kitchen, making the place a great location for college interns or long-term consultants from Chile.

Ultimately, “we’ll have better accommodations and better treatment across the board for our seasonal guys,” says Louis. “They do a lot for us, and it’s important to take good care of them.”

Winter: Ice Sanding

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Until this week’s snow, the weather has been both clear and cold enough that our team has been able to work toward our sanding target via the ice sanding method. A brief recap: sanding is a fundamental component of our Pine Island Integrated Crop Management (PIICM) program, helping us manage the relationship between water, soil, weather, disease, insects, weeds, and nutrition. This procedure helps improve growth and yield by stimulating the development of new uprights (covering the base of the roots strengthens the root system and creates a more healthy vine) while also suppressing disease and reducing insects (by burying weed seed, spores, and insect eggs). It also improves soil drainage while at the same time absorbing and releasing heat so that frost danger in spring is lessened. This increases our efficiency by lowering the need for extra plant nutrition as well as saving water by cutting down frost irrigation times.

“We can sand under colder conditions with ice sanding,” explains GM Fred Torres. “We were out there when it was 20 degrees. You can’t do that on the water; as the barge is moving, water and sand are splashing onto the rollers underneath. If that freezes, it can cause a lot of problems. That won’t happen on ice.” To prep the bog for ice sanding, the ice needs to be at least five or six inches thick. Then the team drops the water underneath, leaving the ice to sit on the vines (protecting them from the elements) until the sanding is done.

“It was great to be out there,” says supervisor Matt Giberson. “We haven’t been sanding in what feels like forever.” He notes that while there are similarities (“The cleaner the sand, the better off you’ll be”), there are certain things that need to be adjusted as they go. The ice sanding team is using three different tractors, so there are always pacing adjustments. “It’s a little different than just measuring the distance on the barge. Some of the traction on the tractors was different; the newest one has better traction. The older tractors have turf tires, so they were slipping when they first started. But when we’re out there, everyone is communicating, and it makes us that much more efficient.” Matt added that CEO Bill Haines came out to see him with some suggestions for improving the workflow by re-routing the Hydremas when loading sand, and it sped things up considerably. “The Hydremas work so much better on the dams anyway, especially in this weather,” he says. “We’re getting a lot more hauling done.”

“Ice sanding is like painting a wall,” Fred says. “You can see if you missed a spot and go back to touch it up!” And as long as the weather cooperates, our team will be able to finish by their targeted date.

Advanced Forestry Solutions

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Pine Island Cranberry’s forest stewardship plan helps us to protect and improve resources by allowing forest practices to be implemented on the ground while maintaining a thriving forest ecosystem through prescribed burning, road maintenance, and boundary surveying, among other things. The cedar swamps of the New Jersey Pine Barrens help to filter and purify water by absorbing and filtering pollutants and sediment. Since the three most important things to the cranberry industry are water, water, and water, maintaining and protecting the cedar swamps are high priority.

In addition to certified New Jersey forester Bob Williams, Pine Island Cranberry has been working with Colin and Deborah McLaughlin of Advanced Forestry Solutions to make sure our stewardship plan is implemented in the most effective way possible. The McLaughlins have been in the business for about eight years. “We wanted to spend more time with family and enjoyed working outside,” says Colin. “We started out mowing, then realized it wasn’t a full-time occupation.” They started out working with pine and oak, then moved onto the Atlantic white cedar when they started working with us. “It’s a beautiful product,” he says. “It’s water and insect resistant, and it makes for great outdoor stuff.” In addition, “It’s good for the health of the forest to make way for new cedars.” When cedars come down, their seeds can help regenerate the forest when the conditions are right, if other hardwood species don’t invade, and if deer don’t eat the seedlings.

To that end, work has begun on our latest stewardship project out at Sim Place, by the Savannah bogs. Colin and Deb will be thinning the trees in an attempt to reduce the number of red maple seedlings, which have been a problem on those bogs in particular. 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, and hand removal has been effective but time-consuming. Managing the cedar stands should hopefully reduce the issue at the source.

First, though, our team needs to make it easier for Colin and Deb to take their equipment into the forest, so they are building some access roads.

This means making sure the water flow is unobstructed. To make this happen (and to reduce waste), we use pipe leftover from building our floodgates.

CEO Bill Haines was pleased with how the work is turning out. The real test occurred when the team took the water off for ice sanding, and everything held up perfectly!

Weathering the cold

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One of our core values at Pine Island Cranberry has always been doing what we need to do when it’s time to do it. Unfortunately, the weather does not always cooperate. For the past couple of weeks, the cold has made our winter tasks much more difficult, and in some instances, we’ve had to alter plans temporarily.

“Our guys dress for the weather, but we really can’t keep our team exposed to the elements when the temperature is this low,” explains COO Bryan vonHahmann. “And when it’s this cold, it’s hard to dig, so we’ve had to slow down on that.” A lot of the outdoor bog reno work has been postponed for the moment, as well as the sanding operation. (While we have tried ice sanding in the past, the weather has been actually too cold to even attempt it; low temperatures not only affect the team, but the equipment as well.)

To that end, our team has kept busy by working indoors as much as possible. Some have been building signs for our property borders, some are working on box repairs, and still others have been assembling sprinklers for the new renovation as well as repairing old sprinklers: replacing worn out nozzles, springs, and sprinkler heads.

Depending on the day to day forecast, though, some outdoor work has been possible. “When the wind’s not blowing and the sun is out, we’re able to send a team out to work on the survey lines,” says Bryan. “They’re protected a bit by the trees, so they’re able to go out and post the signs that have been built already.” And when it’s warm enough to run equipment, the team has kept busy disassembling the old wooden gates we’ve recently replaced.

Our team is still doing whatever it takes…but they’re making sure to keep safe and keep warm at the same time!

Sim Place dams – widening project

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On a cranberry farm, dams serve two purposes: to detain the water used for irrigation and water management, and for vehicle use. Dam maintenance is highly important for both safety and equipment.

Our latest project out at Sim Place included widening several dams for various purposes. As with the Oswego renovation, it makes hauling easier, especially since parts of Sim Place are quite a distance from the home farm. Instead of several trucks carrying two boxes, we can use a tractor trailer that carries nine and won’t need to use as many trucks. It will be more efficient for both the gathering team and the packing house, as well as freeing up team members to be elsewhere if we need them.

Assistant manager Mike Haines says, “We’ve planned it out so there’s a route where they can gather the bogs off one dam in order to widen as few turns as possible. It was a little challenging, because before we decided this was a project we needed to do, there had already been some gates installed. So in order to do this, we had to go ahead and move/replace four gates. We also went ahead and made a completely new road in one section where previously a trailer would have had to make a crazy left turn.”

Another reason for widening the dams at Sim Place is to make room for new equipment. “Matt’s [supervisor Matt Giberson] crew is usually the one assigned to Sim Place, and they’ll be the ones working with the new bogside cleaner,” Mike says. “Having more room will make everything run smoothly.”

Winter update – Equipment

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Our team continues to work on our winter targets for sanding and bog renovation, which in turn keeps our equipment team hustling! Says team member Ernie Waszkiewicz: “The weather can take a toll on the trucks; there’s a lot of hard starting. But that’s something we expect, so we can just keep clicking away on that as well as the rest of the routine.” In the meantime, team member Coco Mercado, who is acting as equipment supervisor while Carlos Baez is on vacation, is keeping track of service calls and making sure he and Ernie respond as quickly as possible.

The biggest ongoing project our equipment team is working on is prepping our old sand screener so we can send it down to CAC in Chile. Ernie, who is the lead on the project, has been putting in a lot of time making the necessary repairs for easy maintenance when it gets down to Chile. “We want to make sure it’s in great shape for those guys,” he says. “We’re putting on new fittings, new hose, new valves…a different style that operates with toggle switches. Basically, we’re going over it and making sure everything is right and that it’s running well. We’re cleaning it up a little and retrofitting some return lines to make things as easy as possible for the guys down there.” Getting it to Chile is going to be a project in itself: “We’re going to have to disassemble it some so we can fit it in one of those overseas boxes! It’s going to be a challenge; I think we’re going to have to get it over to the platform at the packing house and load it from there.”

Prep for reno and fall planting is coming along as well. Lots of 4-inch underdrain has been delivered and is waiting for the next phase:

And welder Fred Henschel is working on the planting cages for the new wagon. “With the old cages, we needed someone to physically hook the chain to the top; this new design should work so that the person running the machine can just hook it up themselves with the equipment,” he explains. “Then we save time and labor; no one has to sit on the trailer and wait and they can be out there on the planter.”

The cages will be ready to go well before planting. The screener project is to be done by mid-month, and our team will keep doing whatever it takes to make sure it’s ready!

Crop review

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This week, we sat down with some researchers to review recommendations and targets for the upcoming season. PIICM Manager Cristina Tassone explains: “A lot of experiments happen here. During the crop review, we can talk to the researchers in more detail as well as discuss recommendations and develop treatment plans. It’s all about teamwork.”

The bulk of the discussion centered around fairy ring, which remains a persistent problem for us. Dr. Peter Oudemans of Rutgers University ran two trials on some Pine Island beds, using aerial technology to track results. The results showed no significant difference between treatments, but as eter indicated in the abstract presented to the ACGA, “it is likely that over time treatment differences will increase.” He plans to continue the experiment, and also give the PIICM team suggestions for going forward. For example, after the ground thaws, the team will take some soil samples from our newly renovated bogs to ensure enough soil was taken out to create a more sterile environment that will keep fairy ring from returning. (According to Peter, renovation guidelines should include hauling out soil one to two inches below the root zone in bogs with a history of fairy ring.)

Attention was also paid to the briar issue: briar can show symptoms of the rust that hosts the fairy ring disease. Rust is not yet carrying the fungus (which is the causal agent) but will become infected. If growers wait too long, the spores on the infected leaves will drop in the bog and could cause fairy ring to appear. “If we kill the top of the plant, the leaves will die, the fungus will die, and there won’t be a host for the fairy ring fungus to infect. It’s more expensive to treat than it is to prevent,” Peter says. So the team discussed timing and targets for several removal options, such as control burning.

There was also some discussion about bee colonies, an important consideration for the growing cycle. Among the ideas: researching creating a habitat to promote more bumblebee activity. Bumblebees are crucial to the cranberry harvest; they work faster, visiting many more flowers per minute. Their large size lets them carry huge pollen loads, allowing longer foraging trips, and achieving better contact with flowers. Larger deposits of pollen promote pollination as well as the formation of more uniform and larger fruit. Perhaps most importantly, bumblebees are naturally attracted to cranberry plants.

ACGA Winter Meeting 2015

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The American Cranberry Growers Association (ACGA) held their annual winter meeting this week, and as always, it was highly educational, with Dr. Nick Vorsa putting together a fantastic program. COO Bryan vonHahmann, attending his second winter meeting, sums it up well: “We’re very fortunate to have a quality group of researchers so close to us, as well as relationships with others in other cranberry areas. Nothing in this business is a constant, so it’s a valuable chance to interact and understand the research that is going on to help us grow more healthy fruit. The mix of presentations was good, especially for someone like me that is in ‘learning mode’.”

In addition to Bryan, Pine Island Cranberry sent a large group and all were just as pleased with the presentations, especially the ones from the graduate students. “It’s really great to see the details the grad students are working on,” says PIICM Manager Cristina Tassone. “And we get the chance to ask them questions, so they get immediate feedback as well.” Assistant Manager Mike Haines agrees: “The greater detail from the graduate presentations were great; they give us aspects I never would have considered otherwise.” It was also a great chance to listen to researchers from other cranberry regions; this year, we had the opportunity to hear from Hilary Sandler, the IPM coordinator at the UMass Cranberry Station, who brought us additional info on weed identification and control.

Both Pine Island team members and other ACGA growers appreciate the chance to get together with others in the industry. Mike says: “It’s great to get a broader perspective in a small industry, especially when we work in an isolated area.” And as fellow grower Joe Darlington likes to point out, “The real business happens during the breaks.”

The real highlight, however, was celebrating the career of Brad Majek, who gave us one final presentation on weed control developments before his retirement. Brad’s appearances were always a highlight at both the winter and summer meetings, and everyone is going to miss him. “He is very passionate about what he does,” says Cristina. “He’s done so much for the industry over the past twenty-plus years. He was always available to help, either in person or on the phone, and he is definitely going to be missed.” CEO Bill Haines agrees: “Brad always has a lot of energy. He was our go-to guy for weed questions and was able to give us a lot of long-distance advice about Chile. He’s a guy who’s all about getting stuff done.”

But perhaps the best tribute came from ACGA President Shawn Cutts, who presented Brad with a plaque which read:

“In appreciation of your many years of outstanding service to New Jersey’s cranberry growers. Your expertise, advice, and friendship have made invaluable contributions to our industry.

‘What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have yet to be discovered.’
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1878

Thanks for helping us kill them anyway…”

Thanks, Brad, for everything you’ve done for all of us!