Cranberries
In the US, Wisconsin produces about 62% of the crop followed by Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Oregon. [1] Several things are changing for cranberries including summer heat waves that forces farmers to use water to cool plants, which is expensive. Droughts, heavy rains that increase fruit disease, and extreme hail storms are also increasing. Warm temperatures late in the summer delays the fruit from turning red and delays harvest. Warming winters are compromising their required dormant period without which they will bear fewer fruit the following year. Even the lack of winter ice on the bogs has a negative impact since farmers cannot spread sand on the ice, which stimulates new root growth. [2,3] Scientists predict that in New Jersey cranberry production will only be viable along the state’s southern coast by the end of the century. [4]
References:
[1] “Cranberries | Agricultural Marketing Resource Center,” accessed August 6, 2021, https://www.agmrc.org/commodities-products/fruits/cranberries.
[2] “Cranberries, a Thanksgiving Staple, Are Feeling the Pinch of Climate Change,” Environment, November 25, 2020, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/climate-change-affecting-massachusetts-cranberries.
[3] Mary Kate McCoy, “Cranberries, Wisconsin’s Most Profitable Fruit, Face An Uncertain Future,” Wisconsin Public Radio, March 2, 2020, https://www.wpr.org/cranberries-wisconsins-most-profitable-fruit-face-uncertain-future.
[4] Kikombo Ilunga Ngoy and Daniela Shebitz, “Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Areas Suitable to Grow Some Key Crops in New Jersey, USA,” Environments 7, no. 10 (October 2020): 76, https://doi.org/10.3390/environments7100076.
