Author Archives: stef

Pine Island Team Profiles: Office Team

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There have been a couple of changes to the Pine Island office team since we last checked in. The biggest change, of course, was when CFO Holly Haines stepped down in December to head the Haines Family Foundation full-time, and former controller Joann Martin stepped up to fill the position.

“Holly is a tough act to follow,” says Joann. “People ask about her all the time. She was born into this, she grew up with it, it’s in her blood.” However, Joann has become fundamental to Pine Island Cranberry in her own right. As CFO, Joann is responsible for the budgeting and all the monthly reports, as well as taxes, bookkeeping, and all the insurance for the farm: liability, workers comp, heath insurance, and general liability (for buildings and residences). She also works closely with the other managers on their budgets so that everyone is on the same page. “I love how everyone is coming together,” she says. “I like numbers, but I like being part of the whole operation and not just being a numbers person. I love getting out onto the farm to see what’s going on; it helps me understand it better. Plus, it means I’m not doing the same thing every day. Every day I’m learning something new about the company, about the team, about the industry.” Out of all of it, though, she loves harvest the best.

We also have a new addition to the office team, Staff Accountant/HR Coordinator Stacey DeLaurentis. Stacey started with us in June and has immediately taken to the place. Stacey grew up in Sweetwater and has lived in the area her entire life. Among her many tasks are payroll, employee benefits, the profit sharing plan, and payables. When the part-time team members come in, Stacey makes sure they’ve filled out all the required documents. She also works with GM Fred Torres on time sheets, as well as tracking any missed time by any team member. In addition, she will soon start working with PIICM manager Cristina Tassone on OSHA compliance. “One of the things I just did was head to the big camp putting up new posters to make sure we’re in compliance with federal and state requirements.” This is going to be Stacey’s first harvest at Pine Island, and she’s very excited about it. “Cristina has been taking me around to see the operation. I read it on the blog, but it’s different being able to stop and see for myself what dewberry is, or how they crown dams,” Stacey says. It serves a couple of other purposes as well. “When I do their time sheets, I can now picture what they’re doing. Plus, if they see me out there and know who I am, it’s hopefully a little more comfortable for them to come in and see me for something if they need to. They have a face for the name.” She is also very pleased at some of the projects she’s been working on. “I was able to come in and make the time sheet system my own,” she says. “It’s a different system than I’ve used in the past, which is to be expected. But I was given the latitude to make any changes I thought could work. It’s great.”

The rest of the office team remains the same. Intrepid administrative assistant Debra Signorelli is well into her second year with us and has become an indispensable member of the team. She does everything, and by that, we mean everything. “The most important thing I do is assisting Bill,” Debra says. “He’s very busy and involved in so many different things, so I try to keep life as simple as I can for him. He has a lot of big things to worry about so I take care of the little things. That’s what I do for everyone here, really. Everyone is busy with their departments, everything is on a schedule, especially with farming. So I’m just here to help everyone so they can worry about the big picture: running errands, making copies, supplies, minutes, prepping for board meetings. Whatever it takes to run an office. It’s a growing office and a growing company; if you have positive efficient people it becomes contagious. It makes you want to do something better. Every day I learn something new. It keeps you green, keeps your energy level up!” And with that, she’s off to start a new project Bill found for her in the middle of her interview.

Finally, we have Stefanie Haines, your webmaster and blogger, who finds it awkward to talk about herself in the third person. It’s been about a year and half since the blog started, and since then we’ve covered a year in the life of a cranberry operation and have moved on to some more in-depth exploration of what we do here and what it means to us, the community, and even the environment. We have expanded into social media and now have a presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, and are exploring ways to make Tumblr work for us. It’s a job that combines the best of both worlds: being in a fun, supportive office environment but also being able to get out into the woods and the water. The best part of it all, though, is being able to talk to our team. I might write the blog, but those are just the words: it’s really our team who tells our story.

CEO Bill Haines agrees: “One of our core values is continuous growth, and you can’t grow faster than the team you have in place. Our entire staff here at the office is not only efficient, but are always looking to make Pine Island better, and doing it in a way that actually makes it fun to come to work.”

Team Profiles: Kevin Schuster and Coco Mercado

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A little over a year ago, we had the grand opening of our new shop, and it’s been going strong ever since!

As we mentioned last week, our Facilities and Equipment Team has been very busy preparing for harvest. Manager Louis Cantafio says that while he’s been ordering more parts in order to be as prepared for harvest as possible, the equipment team is already looking ahead and starting to focus on other machinery. “We’re finishing up work on the planters and the the sand screener, because that all gets going after harvest. And now that we’re starting to get moved into the new equipment sheds, we’re getting everything organized. If something is not in use, then we’ll put it where it belongs.”

Louis has also been training two new employees who started with us this summer: Miguel “Coco” Mercado and Kevin Schuster. Coco is a recent graduate of the Burlington County Institute of Technology (Medford campus), has been with us full-time since June, and is very excited for this year’s harvest. “I worked weekends on Blondie’s crew for the past few years, and also helped fill in on the picking crew sometimes,” he says. “But I’ve never seen it from this side!” He says he’s been learning a lot, especially from supervisor Carlos Baez and fellow team member Ernie Waszkiewicz. “I majored in auto mechanics at BCIT, and I learned a lot about cars and pickups there. But there are so many different things here, new things out in the field that I never knew about. I’ve known how to drive a dump truck for a long time, but I’d never worked on one! I’ve done a lot of new brakes, the oil changes, all the maintenance. It’s really cool.” He has also been working hard on pump house maintenance, prepping the harvesters, and this week, working on finding a leak in one of the tractors. Louis has been pleased by his work. “We have a lot of specialization here, and he’s really been picking up on both how and why we do things the way we do.”

Our other new team member is welder Kevin Schuster. Kevin started with us at the beginning of July and has done whatever it takes to help our team get the harvesting equipment ready. As Louis said last week, the equipment team has been doing a lot of work on the dump trucks: both major and minor repairs as well as preventative maintenance such as reinforcing the welding on tailgates and dump bodies. “During the season we’re always running hard, and those trucks are in use all year.”

Kevin, who trained at the Mercer County Technical School district and did a welding apprenticeship, has been working hard learning every aspect of our equipment program. He’s been out working on repairs to the suction lines, working on improvements to the harvesting machines, and working on all the trucks. “I’m not just working on the underbody of the trucks, though,” Kevin says. “Ernie and I spent some time this summer designing new latches for the tailgates, and I think it’s really going to make things a lot easier for everybody.”

“I really enjoy seeing a new project come together,” Kevin says. “Once you see it work, it’s a real feeling of accomplishment.” At Pine Island Cranberry, we’re glad to provide opportunity to team members like Coco and Kevin who are genuinely willing to do whatever it takes to help make us better.

Preparing for the 2013 harvest

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The 2013 harvest is less than a month away, and our team has been working hard to get ready. While our goal is always to have all facilities and equipment ready when needed, it becomes even more essential as harvest time gets closer. Facilities and Equipment Manager Louis Cantafio and his team have been going nonstop all summer to prepare the harvest equipment.

“Right now we’re going over all of the trucks,” Louis says. “A lot of minor repairs, a few major repairs. Most of it, though is preventative. We’re doing a lot of welding on the tailgates and the dump bodies. They come off for harvest, but when they go back on after the season it’s better to have them in good shape. During the season we’re always running hard, and those trucks are in use all year.”

The team also finished work on the harvesters earlier this summer. “Those all got oil changes, new plugs, and anything else they needed for a standard tune-up. We already did a lot of work last year in terms of replacing parts, though we’re ordering parts in because things are going to break and we need to have them back up and running right away.”

The equipment team helps with all the various harvest machinery, making modifications such as additional hooks for storage or an expanded hopper on the elevators. The boom is sent out for repair, and once it is all back, Kelvin Colon will be installing them on the boom reels.

In addition, all the equipment that we rent is on its way. Mike Guest, our Facilities Supervisor, is also in charge of the packing house. His main task this week has been ordering the trailers we use for hauling to the Ocean Spray receiving station. “I modify those myself,” Mike says. “So I need to make sure that what we get works with my modifications. If I make sure what they have for us is compatible with what we need, it saves everyone time and effort.” Once the trailers are in, he’ll get them ready.

The biggest part of Mike’s job, and the one he takes the most pride in, is prepping the processing equipment. “The main thing is getting the blowers ready,” he says. “The belts come off after harvest in order to prevent wear. It makes them easier to clean, for one thing, and that way the sun doesn’t damage them. The black ones can take it, the white ones can’t, so it’s just easier to take them off.” As far as the permanent machinery, is concerned, he says, he checks every single screw. “That’s not an exaggeration: every single screw. All the nuts and bolts: no exceptions. If you want a comparison, this place is a big funnel, and the packing house is the hole in the bottom. If it gets plugged, everything else shuts down. If something holds up a crew, we still have two more running until the first gets back up again. But if something happens at the packing house, the whole thing gets backed up. I always say it, but it’s easier to maintain things than it is to fix them.” Along those lines, he also makes sure he has parts so if something does break, he has what he needs to get back online.

Mike also 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 like adding an extra walkway, I’ll always see if it’s doable.” He is also very pleased with the assistance of Emmanuel Colon. “If I have to go anywhere, I know the place is in good hands.”

Last but not least, our PIICM program is also getting ready for harvest, calculating our crop estimate! Every year around the last week of August or first week of September, our team takes a random sampling of each variety that we have on the bogs. In each bed, they pick twenty square feet. The samples are brought to the Rutgers Marucci experiment station, where the staff generously allow our team space to sort the berries into categories: healthy, scald, rot, and other. Once it’s weighed and recorded, our team uses that info in conjunction with how many acres we have of each variety to calculate our estimated harvest for the year!

Wildlife management

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One of our core values here at Pine Island Cranberry is protecting the environment: caring for the place where we live, work, and grow. The entire property is located within the boundaries of the New Jersey Pinelands, a region covered with pitch pines, Atlantic white cedars, oaks, and maples. Fire is a major contributor to the ecology of the Pinelands region, and most native plants are fire-resistant. Controlled burning maintains the vegetative balance of the area and reduces the risk of wild fires, maintaining critical habitats for rare plant species.

In order to assess our maintenance plan, our CEO Bill Haines meets frequently with Ted Gordon, a research specialist with more than 35 years experience in botanical studies, including contributions to major plant studies of endangered species in the Pinelands. A former Pinelands Commissioner, Ted primarily conducts rare species surveys and research, monitors habitats, and designs management plans for the conservation and enhancement of rare plants, and we are very fortunate to have access to his knowledge and experience.

The first site Ted visited was a roadside area that Pine Island has not mowed (upon recommendation) in order to protect a stand of fringed white orchids. “It really seems to have helped,” he says. “I have never seen so many in one place as I have this year. Delaying mowing seems to have really made an impact.”

Ted comes out to visit the Sim Place property every year since we started the renovations. “There is a significant patch that has been visited by botanists from all over the world for nearly a century,” he says. “I’ve seen hundreds of species in there. Letting it go probably helped for a bit, but not doing anything at all encourages grasses to overwhelm flowering plants. At this point, you probably need to try mowing, at least a little, and see what the reaction is. Last year was the first time it’s been done in a long time, and I’d like to see some of this try to come back.” In previous years, there had been enough foot traffic to help keep the grasses at bay, but with no activity at all they really took over. “Many rare species are still here,” Ted says. “It’s definitely worth the effort to try and bring them back.”

“Pine Island has always been good about working with others on conservancy and trying to maintain balance,” Ted says. He’s been around the cranberry industry since his twenties, and has worked closely with most of the area growers, who all grant him access to study the wildlife on their property. As a botanist, he is finding all kinds of plants growing near cultivated beds, more so than he’s finding anywhere else. “Cranberry properties have the most diversity thanks to common practices, like burning and mowing. What would Burlington County look like now without the cranberry growers? The pines would be gone. Cranberry growers aren’t the bad guys. We wouldn’t have this. There would be houses out here. I’d hate to think of this place without cranberries. All you have to do is go to other counties and you’ll see.”

ACGA Summer Field Day – 2013

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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.”

Crowning dams

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Long-time readers of the blog will remember that “continuous improvement” is one of our core values here at Pine Island Cranberry. (First-timers will quickly pick up on this, as well.) Part of that continuous improvement includes dam maintenance. 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. “During last year’s Labor Day storm, we had water coming over the dam on this side of Little Meadow,” says GM Fred Torres. “It was lower than the main side along Jonathan Wright [one of our big reservoirs]. We couldn’t get the water down fast enough and had to breach the main dam to get it down. Raising this one over here will help if that ever happens again.”

The procedure is the same as it was when we made some necessary repairs at Ox Pasture this past winter. A team member picks up a load of sand in their dump truck, then hauls the load back to the dam and drops it in front of a bulldozer.

Team member Wilfredo Pagan then uses the laser to get the level he want and keeps going. Once he puts sand down and pushes to get it where he wants it, he comes back at an angle in order to “crown” the dam. Then team member Mickey Mercado follows on a roller to smooth the crown.

Fred says there are targets for this, the same as everything else. “We have everything mapped out: the ones we did in 2012 are in red, the ones for this year are in blue, and the ones planned for next year are green. We’re on target to finish all 7.36 miles by harvest. Next year’s target is 7.26 miles.” The targeted dams are usually the most heavily travelled ones. Some dams are really only used during harvest, and if they get any ruts in a heavy rain, it’s usually fine. But the ones everyone uses most can deteriorate quickly, pushing out both water and sand; proper maintenance now is much more efficient than trying to fix the problem later. “The main dam at Jonathan Wright is a good example,” Fred says. “We crowned it a few years back, and now just touch it up with a dozer a couple times a year, or run the scraper the width of it. All that rain in June and July and everything is still okay; it makes a real difference. Ten years ago, it would have washed out all the time and we would have to touch it up, add some gravel. This is better.”

Our team is also making big improvements over at the Oswego bog renovation. In addition to crowning the dams, our team has been busy widening the dams in some areas. “We’re trying something new,” Fred says. “In this area, we have eight, sometimes nine trucks over here during harvest. Each truck can carry two boxes. But! If we use a tractor trailer, it has nine boxes on it. With three drivers for three tractor-trailers, we won’t need to use as many trucks. It will be more efficient for both the gathering team and the packing house. And it frees up team members to be elsewhere if we need them.”

“We’re doing this all along the main dam behind Oswego so we can take the trucks all the way out to the side road,” Fred adds. “Wherever a trailer might need a wider space, we’ve made it happen.” This includes building a 40 foot pipe gate at a couple of the wider turns. Ultimately our team is willing to do whatever it takes, as always, in order to keep doing what we do: growing more acres and more fruit per acre.

Nutrition decisions

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This week we once again hosted Dr. Joan Davenport of Washington State University. Joan, a former researcher for Ocean Spray, works with Pine Island Cranberry to provide guidance on fertilizer, water, and nutrients, as well as general PIICM management. Joan comes to see us in the spring during the bloom period and again in the height of summer to discuss fertilizer needs for bud set (defined below).

Additional nutrition is necessary because while cranberries have adapted (and thrive) in their native sandy soil, nutrients are taken from the bog through the harvest of fruit. The three main elements usually added for nutrition are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. According to cranberries.org: “Cranberry plant demand for nitrogen is highest during three stages of the lifecycle critical to cranberry development–early growth, fruit set and bud set. Early growth is when the plant grows vegetatively through vining and root growth and produces a flush of new leaves. Fruit set is when the flower becomes pollinated and fruit begin to form. Soon after fruit set comes bud set when nitrogen is needed for both fruit development and production of the next year’s flower bud.”

Joan and our PIICM team visit several bogs to check growth and fruit set in order to best determine nutritional needs. They also take into account the sanding schedule, as sanding 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 reducing insects (by burying insect eggs) and improving soil drainage. This lowers the need for additional plant nutrition.

“This late in the growing season, we are assessing the new plantings for nutritional needs but also for when to stop fertilizing, so that the plants will enter dormancy,” Joan says. “For established beds, we are evaluating the plants for how much crop they are holding and the bud potential for next year to develop recommendations for applications for the remainder of the growing season, including post-harvest and some guidance for roughneck in the spring of next year.” (The roughneck stage is when the stem elongates significantly and all flower buds are visible, being held tight to the stem.) To do this, Joan and the PIICM team look at the amount and size of fruit, the length and color of both new and upright growth, and the amount of buds already set.

Once Joan and the team tour the bogs, she makes specific recommendations based on their findings, such as the sand level needed in certain beds or where to adjust for deficiencies.

“It’s going to take eyes on the beds,” Joan says. “But here, there are always eyes on the beds.” And as always, our PIICM team is out doing whatever it takes to make sure our growing season gives us good results.

Sources:
1. Fertilizer Use in Cranberry Production: http://www.cranberries.org/pdf/soil_fertility.pdf
2. Workmaster, Beth Ann A., Jiwan P. Palta, and Teryl R. Roper, “Terminology for Cranberry Bud Development and Growth”, http://longbeach.wsu.edu/cranberries/documents/terminologyforcranberrybuddevelopmentandgrowth.pdf

Facilities – Big Camp

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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. To date, one of our proudest achievements is how well we maintain our seasonal workers’ camp. Built in 2008, our seasonal camp (known as the big camp) is one of the best in the state of New Jersey. Particular care is taken every year to maintain the camp to our own high standards in order to attract and retain seasonal team members.

Facilities Manager Louis Cantafio says he thinks it’s nicer than the housing he had when he was at college. “It’s a great campus-type set-up,” he says. “The state inspectors always say it’s the nicest one they’ve ever seen. Best seasonal camp in the state. Maybe even the world.” He has a detailed process that is meticulously followed every year for set-up. Once the start date for the seasonal employees is determined, he schedules the state inspection and makes sure everything is completed. The water is tested quarterly. The facilities team then changes the smoke alarm batteries, arranges for range hood cleaning and inspection of the fire suppression system, and schedules heater and dryer vent cleanings.

While a lot of that is done by licensed contractors, our team is busy prepping the rest of the camp, making sure everything is clean and in good condition. They make sure everything is stocked (linens, cleaning supplies, cookware, dishes) and that all the required posters are updated as needed.

Supervisor Gerardo Ortiz is in charge of seasonal recruitment and says that having a good camp makes it easy. “We like when people come back,” he says. “When we have places open, our returning guys always have a friend or a cousin who they can recommend. People who know what the deal is and what they’ll have to do. And they want to come! This place, it’s a five-star place.” What makes it better, he says, are the amenities. “It’s clean, the rooms are bigger, and there’s more privacy. We only have four or five guys in each room, and each room has its own bathroom.”

There are plans for making it even better. “Bill is always looking for ways to improve,” he says. There are plans to add a second screened gazebo as well as a basketball court. Long-time season team member Alberto Torres is also the (spectacular) camp cook. “The kitchen building is also a great place to hang out,” Gerardo says. “The guys come in, watch TV, play cards. It’s nice. And it makes people want to come back.”

Louis agrees: “It makes us more competitive for quality staff. We have the best in the world, and we want to treat them that way.” Gerardo adds, “Bill Sr. always used to say, if you’re a good worker but can’t come back for a while, the door is always open. There’s always a spot here if you’re a good worker. Our guys, they know what they have to do and they do it, so we want to make them happy.”

Fungicide application

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Last week we talked about the effect of New Jersey humidity on our growing season and how we set our treatment targets. While we always keep in mind that we are growers first and foremost, one of Pine Island Cranberry’s core values is protecting the environment: caring for the place where we live, work and grow. We do everything we possibly can to limit applications of fungicides.

The first line of defense is maintaining adequate drainage. Per Dr. Peter Oudemans of Rutgers University, uniform drainage helps minimize infection. Puddles or standing water are the first places fungi such as Phytophthora cinnamomi or Phyllosticta occur, and drainage methods that remove standing water (such as installing new underdrain, below) are very useful in controlling root rot.

Over-watering can also increase likelihood of root and fruit rot. In the hot summer months our team works to achieve the delicate balance of cooling off vines while not over-saturating the soil. This requires constant monitoring of tensiometers (pictured below) and lampinenometers to determine soil moisture in the root zone and the distance from the plants to the water table. These readings vary across the farm, making it necessary to use different irrigation regimens from system to system.

When fungicide use is needed, Peter says, “We’ve figured out that if we can treat the disease during the bloom period, we’ve got it seventy to ninety percent controlled. Once the bloom period is over, treatment gives us diminishing returns. Some of our new research is to discover just how much.” He says researchers have been seeing good results with the standard applications discussed by PIICM manager Cristina Tassone last week. “The fungicides used have a narrow spectrum of actions separately, but we’ve found that if they’re combined they can work very well protecting the plants from infection.”

Jeremy Fenstermaker and his team have been up early all week finishing the final application. “It’s usually done early because that’s when it’s calmest,” he says. “It prevents drift and helps give us a more uniform application. The weather’s made it tricky in other ways this year; timing is important so the fungicide has time to dry, which makes it more effective.” Timing is also crucial for running everything through the system. “It varies based on size,” says team member Tim Haines. “Most of them average eight to ten minutes, but some can be as low as four. But as long as the pressure is constant it will be the same every time we run the system.”

*****

Sources:
Oudemans, Peter V. and Anne DeMarsay, Management of Phytophthora Root and Runner Rot in Cranberry, May 2013.

Humidity

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“It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.”

It may be a cliché, but it’s sadly all too true: thanks to New Jersey’s high humidity, the most serious disease problem faced by area cranberry growers is fruit rot. Though the fungi known to cause fruit rot appear wherever cranberries are grown, the degree of infection is greatly affected by weather conditions. Most field rot symptoms occur with high summer temperatures and moisture, per Dr. Peter Oudemans of the Rutgers Cooperative Extension.

We talked last week about how the weather has not been greatly beneficial for pollination; the same also applies to rot conditions. June 2013 has been the wettest June in recorded history in New Jersey, with an average rainfall for the month at 9.2 inches. According to PIICM manager Cristina Tassone, Pine Island received an average rainfall of eight inches both on the home farm and Sim Place. “In New Jersey, you have to have a fruit rot fungicide program,” she says. “And with weather conditions like this, we have to make sure our timing of the applications is right.” Fortunately, the newly installed underdrain is working very well to keep our bogs drained and as dry as possible, but we still need to use a treatment program. Our target percentage for rot is less than 3%; for anything higher than that, we are penalized by Ocean Spray. High rot numbers during the harvest hurts our efficiency. It slows down our packing house team, which in turn slows down the Ocean Spray receiving station.

Cristina checking vines at Otter

Pine Island is constantly evaluating the fungicide program in order to make the best decisions from season to season. We don’t have hard numbers on rot percentage until after a bog is harvested, but every year at the end of harvest we always revisit and see if we need to adjust our program. We have two basic programs: standard and intensive. The standard is three to four applications. “The first two are the most important,” Cristina says. “We have to cover as many of the flowers as we can. Our team is constantly scouting until we get to about twenty percent scattered bloom, when the first application will go on, and then the next is done when we’re at full bloom. The first two are where you’re going to live or die.”

“Sad to say, this year we have ‘perfect’ rot conditions,” she says. “In a normal year, we can switch to the standard program from the more intensive program, but one year or one season can’t determine that. It’s all about timing; we do what we have to do when it’s time to do it. If it’s not done? You can’t turn that back.”