Author Archives: stef

2013 Fall Planting

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Our fall planting at the Boricua bogs is almost done, which will complete the Oswego renovation. Our team started last Monday, and the weather has been mostly cooperative.

The planting team has been moving faster than ever before, and has even set a new record with over 3.5 acres planted in one day. Team member Casey Koehler attributes this to each team member knowing what their assigned task is in addition to good communication by New Production foreman Kelvin Colon. “We start at 6:30 in the morning and everyone just works,” she says. “Everybody has their job but if they’re needed elsewhere, they’ll step up, no questions asked. We switch off a lot, too; it can be hard on your back sitting on the planter. So people will exchange jobs so there are fresh hands and a fresh back on the planter.” In addition, Casey says, “The guys doing the hand planting are fast and they’re good. If everyone’s doing their jobs, then Kelvin can make sure everything’s getting done that needs to be done.”

Every team member is keeping busy. Casey was tracking the daily averages: daily acres planted, number of trays, and the number of plants per acre, as well as the running total acres, while Waldemar Blanco is in charge of making sure both planters are always fully loaded, the plants are delivered, and all trays are sorted and counted according to planter and/or hand planting in order to make accurate measurements.

Communication has become much more efficient with new technology, as updates in the field can be viewed on the office database. The team is also able to track the plant totals: how many carts ordered per day, how many trays used on both planters, how many carts are left at the end of the day, and how many cuttings are planted per acre. Our target is 60,000/acre. “We leave at least one for the following day,” Casey says. “Once we come in at 6:30, we’re moving. So the night before we’ll leave one ready to go, with a tarp over it to keep the heat in.”

Every day a team member measures the acreage to see if they’ve hit their targets, which started at 2.5 acres/day then changed to 3 acres/day. Some bogs are tougher than others, depending on layout: Boricua #5 has some unusual angles due to topography, which made more hand planting necessary and added to the overall time. But the team has been doing very well and are actually ahead of schedule, expecting to be finished by this afternoon.

All that remains to be done is watering the new acreage. While the mostly sunny and dry weather has been good for getting the planting finished, it does mean that the sprinklers need to be run every day for the new plants. It does serve a dual purpose: in addition to sealing the sil around the plants, the team can check for damaged sprinklers.

Thirty acres in ten days is a fantastic achievement, and our team should be proud of the work they have done. It is this willingness to do what needs to be done that helps Pine Island grow more acres and more fruit per acre, year after year.

Starting from scratch – bog renovation

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Now that the crop is in and clean-up is just about done, it’s once again time to focus on bog renovation. Fall planting has started at Boricua, and with the Oswego renovation nearly complete, our team is turning its attention to the next system in our improvement plan: parts of 11 Acre and Ben Haines. 11 Acre #1 and 2 and Ben Haines #6 make up about 18 acres of ground and run on the same pump system, which is why we’re redoing these particular sections. “It’s not quite as big a project as the ones the last couple of years, but it’s going to be very manageable,” says Bog Renovations manager Joe Colon. “It’s a small amount of acreage, comparatively, but with the new acreage starting to produce, we’re not going to be losing anything.”

The first process in renovating preexisting acreage is a lot of fun for team members.

If we were simply removing the old vines, burning them wouldn’t be entirely necessary. However, it’s a lot easier to remove the irrigation and drainage if the vines are gone first. “You can’t pull that pipe out with vines in the way,” explains GM Fred Torres. “Once you get down to the turf, it’s much softer.”

In order to do that, each team member takes a can to the vines, going by the picking patterns and going by the prevailing winds. “We go by the picking patterns because they’re usually ‘fluffier’,” says team member Matt Giberson. “The less dense the are, the easier they’ll go up. Frankie [Torres] and Vince [Arnwine] are out there making sure the vines are lifted up so we can get underneath.” The winds are especially important, says Fred. “Once we get the permit for a controlled burn, we wait for good conditions. We had a wet morning, but once the sun came out, we were good to go. The breeze was coming from the south, which helped dry things out; it doesn’t burn as well when the clouds roll in. We had to burn against the wind to start, though, which was why we started from the bottom; once that was done, we could start from the top and not worry if the fire crossed a dam, because after that it had nowhere to go.”

Once the vines are burned, Joe’s team will take an excavator and pull the old pipe out of the ground, which will be a much more efficient process without the vines in the way. Team members are also digging out some of the old hardware by hand.

Once the old irrigation lines are torn out, the team will begin to push the old turf off the bogs and haul it away. “We’re going to try and get the briars out while we’re at it,” says Joe. “These bogs will be a lot bigger, too, because we’ll be using the entire acreage. We have a lot of gates to repair or replace, as well. We’re taking out all the small ditches and doing the land leveling, which will make it a lot easier to flood. And we don’t have to move the pump house or build a new one; that stays where it is.” Joe also points out that the previously existing sand layers will make putting in new topsoil easier. “We’re not going to have to do as much with that as we did out at Sim Place.”

It’s a lot of work, but our team is more than able to get it done. “We’re a well oiled machine,” Fred says. “We set out to do something and it gets done, because we plan ahead. We set our targets, and we knock ’em down.”

The finish line!

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Our hard-working crews hit their final targets this week, and our clean-up crew is close behind!

Pine Island Cranberry set several personal records this year. The one we are most proud of: on Monday, our teams moved so fast that we sent almost 14,100 barrels–over 1.4 million pounds of cranberries–to the Ocean Spray receiving station in Chatsworth. Other highlights: we harvested 1,299 acres in 35 days, finishing two days early and averaging 224.53 barrels/acre across the entire farm with only 3% rot.

We picked some of our newly renovated bogs for the first time and got results that give us great hope for our future. It was decided to pick some of the young bogs after only two growing seasons because there was already a lot of fruit in there. As CEO Bill Haines explained: “It might not be entirely useable, but if we leave it, the fruit drops off and rots into the ground. We won’t know exactly what will come up, but chances are it won’t be as productive. It won’t have the same genetics.” He calls those “mutts”. “Mutts will take over a bog if you let them; they grow more vines than fruit. They bloom at different times, making it impossible to time fertilizer and fungicide. They go backwards instead of getting better.” With an average of almost 189 barrels/acre at Panama #5 and 218 barrels/acre at Panama #6, it’s looking like growth and improvement can only continue over the next few years!

Overall, we set a new production record at Sim Place! Last year, our team brought in 32,220 barrels from Sim Place. This year, with several bogs setting new individual records, they harvested 41,966 barrels: a 30% increase in production! The low rot percentage made a huge difference here.

All of our teams did a phenomenal job. Despite the heavy summer rainfall, it was a dry autumn, and our supervisors had many challenges with water management. But they acquitted themselves admirably, and all of our teams surpassed their daily targets.

Our new fourth team, Jorge Morales’ clean-up/swan string crew, is still hard at work, but they expect to be done in good time, making it easier for our planting team to move on immediately to the Boricua renovation and helping Pine Island as a whole become more efficient. Their best record so far: covering 50 acres with swan string in one day!

In the end, Pine Island’s success is dependent on all members of our team, who are always willing to do whatever it takes to help us be better at what we do: growing more acres and more fruit per acre, every successive year!

Orange Harvest Team

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Harvest is drawing to a close, and our Orange Harvest Team is helping us get everything in as quickly as possible! Toward the end of this week, they were working roadside, which made a lovely photo op for anyone traveling along Route 563.

Gathering crew leader Jose Cruz-Soto, better known as Blondie, is a long-time team member who has always shown the willingness to do whatever it takes to get tasks finished and is pleased with the work his crew has been doing. “They’re fast,” he says. “I have two new guys and they’re doing a really good job.” GM Fred Torres agrees: “Blondie’s crew is quick, because he knows how to delegate. He keeps an eye on everything. He’ll pitch in any time he has to, nobody’s too good for that. But he tells his guys what to do and then he makes sure it gets done. You can’t make sure everyone’s doing what they need to do if you’re only doing one task yourself.” It also helps Blondie keep track of the crop; when asked how many boxes have gone from a bog to the packing house, he can answer without even needing to think about it.

The ability to delegate is also one of the top abilities of Orange Team supervisor Gerardo Ortiz. The team supervisor’s job is a busy one; they are not only the top of the chain of command for both the picking and gathering crews, but they also have to constantly monitor the water for the bogs being picked, the bogs being gathered, the bogs that are being drained, and the bogs that are next in line. Most days, Gerardo won’t necessarily need to get into the water with his crew, but this week, it was all hands on deck as he jumped into the water and got behind a machine.

We mentioned last week that the gathering team has a tough job; corralling the berries can be more difficult in some places than others, depending on terrain. But uneven ground as well as ditch placement can also be a problem for the picking crews. Each bog is picked in a specific pattern according to topography, and the picking crew has to carefully move their harvesters around stakes which have been arranged by their team supervisor for maximum operational efficiency. (Following this pattern allows for minimal damage to the vines.) The crew leader also needs to stay ahead of his crew and check for ditches, for everyone’s safety. This is a little easier on newer bogs; they’re more uniform. But after a while our picking crew leaders get to know their sections and know which ones need a little more help. That’s where Gerardo came in.

“These are older bogs,” Gerardo explains, “and some of them are really oddly shaped or have unusual ditch patterns. Caesar [Colon, the Orange Team picking crew leader] is a pro, but with these bogs sometimes an extra hand helps.”

It is this willingness of every single team member to pitch in wherever it’s necessary that makes Pine Island Cranberry nothing but the best!

Green Harvest Team

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Harvest is still going full steam ahead, with three crews working seven days a week to bring everything in and our fourth crew cleaning up behind them.

Our Green harvest team was out at the north end of the home farm this week, finishing up at Mule Island. Green Team supervisor Jeremy Fenstermaker is working with picking crew leader Rick Zapata again this year, but the gathering crew has a new leader in Waldemar Blanco. Waldy is a fourteen year team member who has done many things during his tenure here. He is an experienced member of our frost team, worked round the clock during the terrible Labor Day storm last year, and in general is a team player, flexible and ready to go whenever a job needs to be done for the crop.

The gathering team has a tough job. Once the boom is placed in the bog, each end is attached to a tractor, which slowly moves along the dam, corralling the berries. It can be more difficult in some places than others, depending on terrain. Sometimes the ground is uneven, and the boom can push back and some fruit escapes. Some members of the gathering crew follow alongside, “sweeping” the berries and making sure they stay within bounds. It looks really simple but it’s tough to get the hang of it; a lot of guys want to move quickly but it actually gets done faster if you slow down. You only move as fast as the tractor; your body should be slow but your arms should move fast. Once that is done, both ends of the boom are connected to the boom reel, which is wound tighter as the berries are brought up the elevator onto the truck. While part of the crew is pulling the boom tighter, the other part of the crew is setting up the elevator in order to remove the berries from the water and load the trucks bound for the packing house.

Communication is key to all of this, which is why it’s important to have good leaders. Waldy was an excellent choice for this position, having served as the second-in-command when Jorge Morales ran the Green gathering crew last year. “It’s a little different this year,” Waldy says. “I’ve worked on crews with different leaders, but it’s always been with guys who’ve come back year after year. This year, we have some new people. It’s a lot of work to teach them the routine at first, but now everyone knows what they have to do, and they do it.” The weather can make things difficult, he says. “Every year when we get to one particular area, it rains for a week! It’s always something. But we do what we have to do.”

Harvest team supervisor Jeremy Fenstermaker is pleased with Waldy’s work. “He’s been on a gathering crew pretty much since he started here,” Jeremy says. “He has a good sense of what needs to be done, and he does it. He was a natural choice to step up, and he’s doing a good job. The guys respect him, too. That counts for a lot. If your team knows what they need to do, it goes like clockwork.”

Waldy is a great example of someone who does whatever it takes to help Pine Island Cranberry achieve our mission. He works hard, does what needs to be done when it’s time to do it, and has stepped up to fulfill a leadership role and enable his team to hit their targets every day. Team members like Waldy are the kind of people who are helping Pine Island Cranberry do everything we do better every day.

Blue Harvest Team

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Harvest is going at full speed and all of our teams are doing whatever it takes to bring in this year’s crop. Matt Giberson, our new Blue Team supervisor, was out at Bull Coo on the home farm with his crew this week. Matt has been with us for a year and a half now, learning all the challenges and triumphs of growing cranberries and is applying knowledge of the water from winter flooding to the management of the harvest water flow.

“My main job is to handle the water,” Matt says. “I was really nervous about it at first, especially with the reservoirs being so low. But I’m learning how it all works; I spend a lot of time talking to Bill and Fred, because they know more about the water than anyone else here. And I touch base every morning about our targets: what to pick, what to gather.” Matt is also getting used to the early mornings! “It’s a long drive out to Sim Place, and when you go to bed, you’re always worried about the water: did you close that gate? Is enough coming through?” With the reservoirs being so low, Matt also has to keep an eye on the Crisafulli pumps. “There was a clog at the gate at Red Road this morning; I could tell the stream wasn’t what it was supposed to be. Bill always says, ‘Be creative, have a Plan B’, so we brought some water down from the top. It finally cleaned itself out, and now we have plenty to finish this section.”

It helps to have a couple of experienced crew leaders. Joel DeJesus, who runs the picking crew, and Kelvin Colon, who runs the gathering crew, know what they need to do to keep the balance. “Communication is key, always,” says Matt. “If that goes well, everyone’s job is made a lot easier.” And everyone pitches in. Matt tries to keep Joel’s crew knocking berries at all times, and if Kelvin’s gathering crew catches up, they will help with other tasks, such as pulling sprinklers ahead of the picking crew, while waiting. As with everything else in agriculture, a lot depends on the weather. The wind was favoring the gathering crew, which helps speed up the process considerably. And they have specialized knowledge which also helps with efficiency: Joel keeps a set of tools on him at all times, so if the chain on a harvester breaks, he can usually fix it himself and save the equipment team a trip.

With water management so central to the operation, Matt believes that knowledge is power. “The more people know about the process, the better it is. They ask questions, you give them answers. Then they can see themselves if something’s not right. Vincent was out at Sim Place the other day and noticed a couple of boards had come out, and we were able to get that under control right away.” In turn, he asks plenty of questions and learns extensively from the team members that have been here for many years. Experienced team members such as Wilfredo Pagan, Ivan Burgos, and Jorge Morales, among many others, explained picking patterns to him. Each bog is picked in a specific pattern according to terrain, and the picking crew has to carefully move their harvesters around stakes which have been arranged by the team leader for maximum operational efficiency. Following this pattern allows for minimal damage to the vines. “That one’s still tough,” he says. “But it comes down to knowing your bogs, to keeping your feet in them and picking up the details. The more I walk them, the more I learn.”

Pine Island Cranberry is very happy to have Matt as the new Blue Team supervisor this harvest; he is a great example of the type of leadership we are trying to attract. He is passionate about farming, wants to know everything about how to grow cranberries, and is willing to do whatever it takes to help us achieve our mission. Most of our training on the farm is informal and on-the-job experience. This season, Matt has been able to lead his team and learn from the veterans at the same time, helping us do everything we do better every day.

Pine Island Team Profiles: Jorge Morales

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Harvest is now in full swing, and everywhere you look there are gorgeous red berries against the backdrop of green trees and blue skies. But that is not the only thing our team is working on this fall. This week, we reserved one of our team profiles for supervisor Jorge Morales, who is heading up the first ground crew in the history of Pine Island Cranberry.

The ground crew is a new addition to this year’s harvest schedule. Led by Jorge Morales and assisted by longtime seasonal team member Alberto Torres, the ground crew follows the gathering teams after they are finished with each bog in order to start clean-up. In previous years, this job was left until after all the bogs were gathered and the harvest was completely in. The crew has several tasks: ditching (both by hand and mechanical) and installing swan line as well as general clean-up.

Jorge is a well-regarded and experienced team member who will have been here for thirty-seven years in November. “I’ve done a little bit of everything,” he says. His knowledge and experience made him the ideal person to run this new project. Swan lines are particularly important because of the damage they can do to a crop. PIICM manager Cristina Tassone says, “Just three acres of swan damage can give us a loss of 200 barrels per acre, or even more, depending on the variety. That takes three years to come back.” The strings are effective because they help keep the swans out of the bog by limiting the space available. “Swans are like a commercial airliner,” CEO Bill Haines says. “Having the strings up disrupts their attempt to both land and take off again.”

Jorge has a lot of enthusiasm and has the process down cold. “First I have to look at the map and see what my targets are,” he says. “I talked with Fred and decided to finish out at Sim Place this week before heading back to the home farm. It’s easier on the guys that way and we can get things done a lot faster. And you have to get it done fast, because those swans, they do a lot of damage.” First, he says, his crew sets up the rebar that holds the string; the first rod gets placed at thirty feet from the end of the bog and after that it goes to every sixty feet. “You have to make sure it comes out even,” he says, demonstrating how he walks out a bog to measure for the long lines that are installed after the cross lines. “Once all the rods are in, we tie the string on one end and then walk it across.”

Once the lines are tied, the next step is to install the poles in a checkered pattern within the bog. “The pipe is lighter and it’s easier for the guys to carry, but I think the cedar holds up better,” Jorge says. “And it looks nicer.”

Jorge has an excellent team made almost entirely of new team members, with the exception of experienced seasonal team member Geraldo Cartagena. But, he says, they’re doing an amazing job. “These guys are really working hard,” he says. “We do get a little more done on the weekends, because we have some part-time help, but these guys really move.”

In addition to the swan line, his crew will also clean out the ditches either by hand or using a method called “Shinn ditching”, where a machine is hooked to a tractor to clear out bog debris. Usually this is done in November, but doing it now will mean being able to finish well ahead of both sanding and the winter flood.

A very hands-on leader, Jorge always jumps right in and does whatever it takes to make sure he and his team do what needs to get done. Bill says: “Swan line is a really important task and is a big key to production. It’s not the glamorous job everyone wants photos of, but it’s extremely necessary in helping us actually grow fruit and set our targets for the next year’s harvest. Jorge and his team are really doing a great job.”

From Bill’s Desk: “Whatever It Takes”

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Our newest feature: the first in an occasional series of entries by CEO Bill Haines.

At Pine Island Cranberry we believe in doing what ever it takes to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves. In fact, “Whatever It Takes” is one of the six core values that guide everything we do. This week three of our team demonstrated the kind of dedication it takes to put that core value into action.

The first day of harvest, our Sim Place well went out of commission when the harmonic balancer (also known as a dampener pulley) broke. It has been a dry August and September; our reservoirs are not as full as we would like. The well was crucial to flooding our Panama bogs for their first harvest. Louis Cantafio, manager of Equipment and Facilities, immediately went into action. He dispatched Ernie Waszkiewicz to remove the radiator from the engine to gain access to the balancer. In the meantime, he used every resource available to find the part. After locating one in northern New Jersey that afternoon, he made a four hour round trip to retrieve it. While waiting for Louis to return, Ernie rigged lights to make it possible to repair the engine and put everything back together after dark.

While this was going on, supervisor Matt Giberson, leader of the Blue harvest team, was successfully doing everything possible to flood the Panama bogs for picking. The team hit its target.

When Louis arrived with the balancer, he, Ernie and Matt went right to work. At 9:30 PM, I received a laconic text from Louis stating simply, “Well running”.

I am very proud of the effort, professionalism and dedication they displayed the first day of our 2013 harvest. They are perfect examples of the entire Pine Island team’s determination to do “whatever it takes” to be the best in the world at what we do. I am lucky to have such a team.

Game time!

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It’s once again the most exciting time of year at Pine Island Cranberry: we began to harvest this week!

In addition to the work our equipment team has put in, our other teams have been unstinting in their preparation, as well. Once crew selections were made, the team supervisors started training the newer team members on the equipment as well as pointing out the more seasoned team members so the rookies know who to see for guidance if necessary. They also began staking the bogs to show the pattern in which the bog needs to be harvested to protect the vines from damage. (To go “against the grain” could severely damage the vines.) Finally, the supervisors began flooding the bogs, monitoring water levels until each was ready for the picking crews.

As always, water management is the most crucial task our team members perform. Reservoirs need to be at their highest level to begin the flooding process. A meticulous flood plan needs to be in place in order to set our targets. This includes determining how many bogs need to be flooded each day and at what pace; some will be slow, some more quickly. The water level needs to be monitored based on how long it will take to harvest the bog, raising it for gathering. Once the bog is harvested and gathered, the team supervisor needs to determine how much will be retained and how much will be transferred to the next bog, holding the water in a bog whenever they feel it necessary.

With the Green Team and the Orange Team working on established beds at Sim Place and the home farm, CEO Bill Haines took a ride out to the two and three year beds at Panama, which we are picking for the first time. When you plant a new bed, it’s usually a three-year cycle. “First year, roots; second year, shoots; third year, fruits”, as the saying goes, though if there is enough fruit we try to pick early. When asked why, Bill explains: “With cranberries, we always plant from vines because then they come up true. If you plant Crimson Queen or Stevens, you get Crimson Queen or Stevens. But cranberries will also come up from the seed.” In a young bog, our team might decide to pick if there’s a lot of fruit already in there. “It might not be entirely useable, but if we leave it, the fruit drops off and rots into the ground. We won’t know exactly what will come up, but chances are it won’t be as productive. It won’t have the same genetics.” Bill calls those “mutts”. “Mutts will take over a bog if you let them; they grow more vines than fruits. They bloom at different times, making it impossible to time fertilizer and fungicide. They go backwards instead of getting better.”

The official numbers aren’t in yet, but yesterday the gathering crew had hauled 68 boxes from Panama #6.

Bill says, “I can’t say as a farmer it’s going to be a great crop. But I would say that I think it could be a great crop this year.”

Corporate Stewardship Council

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One of Pine Island Cranberry’s core values has always been protecting the environment: caring for the place where we live, work, and grow. To that end, we have been working since 2001 with forester Bob Williams of Land Dimensions Engineering to create and implement a forest stewardship plan. Creating a specific plan helps us protect and improve forest resources by doing practices such as prescribed burning, thinning, and replanting with improved trees. We are improving the forest habitat while at the same time conducting all the necessary work to have a thriving, profitable cranberry operation.

This commitment to stewardship and careful attention to detail was a big part of the decision by New Jersey Audubon to ask us to become the first agricultural production company to join their Corporate Stewardship Council, a unique group of eighteen New Jersey companies united behind a common goal of environmental sustainability and responsibility in NJ. “Not only does Pine Island Cranberry bring an agricultural perspective to the Council, but its membership also brings with it the largest stewardship project to date in the Council. This project was also the first forest stewardship project to be part of the Council membership with a NJ Approved Forest Stewardship Plan,” says John Parke, Stewardship Project Director for New Jersey Audubon. “The work Pine Island Cranberry Company is doing through forest stewardship is exemplary. We commend Pine Island for being a model business that understands that the management of natural resources makes both economic and ecological sense. Thus, they are providing quality forest and farm products which help support the NJ economy, while protecting the future of New Jersey’s critical habitat and farmland. Meaningful and sustainable conservation is difficult to achieve without the knowledge and experience of people like Bill Haines and Bob Williams.”

The Council meets as a group annually with the NJ Audubon and representatives of the NJ DEP and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. This year’s meeting was held last Friday in Trenton. Bill was unable to attend, so he sent his daughter Becca Fenstermaker as his representative. Most of the meeting consisted of summaries and updates of projects from the past year and an introduction to new projects. “John was, as always, full of energy and enthusiasm,” says Becca. “The number of stewardship projects and members of the council have increased quite a bit in the few years since it was formed, and John was especially excited to introduce Pine Island to the council. And chatting with some of the other members was interesting because they share our commitment to resource conservation although their projects vary greatly in size and scope.”

Becca adds, “Eagle Ridge Golf Club’s president, Jerry Kokes, is truly passionate about wildlife, particularly birds, and has encouraged native plant growth and installed nesting boxes throughout his property. He showed me a number of beautiful photos on his phone and also impressed me with his bird calling. Keith Campbell, of Mannington Mills, spoke of his family’s commitment to not only improving wildlife habitat but also to improving the local economy by bringing jobs back to the area that had previously been outsourced. His company’s long-term (four-generation, with the fifth working on his MBA) outlook is remarkably similar to Pine Island’s. He sees that being a responsible business owner requires companies to work in partnership with other businesses and agencies to best serve the community and the environment that we depend on for our success.”

Ultimately, NJ Audubon’s goal is for this project to solve a long-standing land use conundrum regarding how to obtain and manage critical wildlife habitat patches suitable for meeting their needs as dictated by their seasonal behavior and daily routine without sacrificing the economics toed to agriculture and forest management in New Jersey. And partnering with a prominent conservation organization like the NJ Audubon is a natural extension of Pine Island’s core values of continuous improvement and protecting the environment.