Cranberry farmers turning old bogs into wetlands

CARVER, MASSACHUSETTS – It’s peak season for cranberry farmers in southeastern Massachusetts. The Bay State is second only to Wisconsin in cranberry production in the United States

“Massachusetts has an incredibly robust cranberry industry,” says Karen Cahill, the company’s executive vice president Cape Cod Cranberry Growers’ Association.

She tells FOX that a 2023 economic study showed a $1.7 billion contribution to the state’s economy and supporting nearly 6,400 jobs in the region.

But one cranberry farmer in the state says growing them in Massachusetts is becoming increasingly difficult.

FARMAGEDDON: TRUMP’S TRADE WAR AND SHUTDOWN ARE DESTROYING THE HEARTLAND

Jarrod Rhodes, a fourth-generation cranberry farmer in Carver, Massachusetts, produces 50,000 barrels – or 5 million pounds – of cranberries annually on his family farm. Founded his family Edgewood Bogs LLC in the early 1940s. The Rhodes launched Cape Cod Select in 2009, where they process some of their own fruit for the frozen retail market, he said.

But increasing costs and changing weather conditions increase pressure.

“It kind of adds up and it becomes a lot more expensive to grow here than in Wisconsin or Canada,” Rhodes said.

Cahill added, “Massachusetts is generally an expensive place to do business due to high labor, utility and real estate costs.”

Due to the drought, pumpkin farmers are left with empty fields and smaller harvests

She also says a key difference is the size of Massachusetts compared to Wisconsin alone.

“The scale in Wisconsin is significantly larger — more than double the acreage in Massachusetts — and doing everything on a larger scale tends to make it more cost-effective,” she said.

Faced with these pressures, Rhodes turned to a federal program to decommission and restore more than 30 acres of older peatlands.

“The property was in dire straits and needed to be rebuilt,” he says.

The state Department of Ecological Restoration (DER) operates a cranberry bog program that converts abandoned bogs back into native wetlands.

Over the past decade, DER has rehabilitated several unviable peatlands, including the restoration of the Eel River headwaters. DERs website says Atlantic white cedar has recovered, wetlands now cover former farmland, and river herring have returned upstream.

Knowing of an unviable bog, Rhodes applied for the program, which is funded by state and federal grants.

“We decided not to rebuild it but to take the money and buy a better property,” he said.

The Rhodes now farm less acreage, but the disused moor remains permanently protected as a wetland and the family invests the proceeds in more productive fields.

DER describes the approach as a “green exit strategy,” in which families like the Rhodes are compensated through restoration grants and use concessions to convert peatlands into wetlands.

EXPRESSED BY SOYBEAN FARMERS AS COSTS RISE

DER’s Krista Haas said properties need to be legally protected before construction begins.

“This puts a property restriction in place that restricts certain activities such as development,” Haas said. “Protection measures are often implemented through the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Wetland Reserve Easement (WRE) program.”

As more projects take shape, Rhodes says many growers are considering the same path. Some are nearing retirement, and younger generations were “not that interested,” he said. The rehabilitation of the wetland on Rhodes is expected to be completed in spring 2026.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Beth Lambert, DER executive director, said the agency’s goal is to restore 1,000 acres over the next 10 to 15 years.