Making Cranberries More Resilient To Climate Change

Scientists are working around the clock to make cranberry production more sustainable.

“Cranberries have been around north america forever – they’re native wetland plant here in Wisconsin,” says Tom Lochner. “We harvest here in Wisconsin about 21,500 acres of cranberries and that will produce 550 million pounds of fruit – this year we’re down closer to 450 million pounds due to weather issues.”  

According to the USDA, Wisconsin is the largest producer of cranberries, with over half of the U.S. production in 2020. So most of your holiday cranberries likely come from here. But here at the Wisconsin Cranberry Research Station production of cranberries have been low the past couple years. 

“Warm spells during the middle of the winter might melt some of the snow and expose the plant tissue to low temperatures and wind followed by really cold temperatures has resulted in yield lost,” says Amaya Athucham, a professor at the University of Wisconsin. "That’s something we’ve seen and something we expect to see more and more.”