Turning point in tough season
Aylesford’s Cranberry Acres benefits from health trend in China
Cranberries grown in Aylesford are sought after as far afield as China.
Cranberry Acres president Henry Endres is noticing that his Annapolis Valley business is gradually benefiting emerging global health trends.
He recently secured a new deal that will see about half of the cranberries harvested this fall shipped to China.
“That is a plus, because to get into China is very difficult,” Endres said Nov. 7.
He said residents of China are, more and more, catching on to the health benefits associated with eating cranberries.
“The young people in China, they just eat it like a candy… that will give the cranberry industry a big boost but, first of all, the price has got to come up,” Endres said.
A “Canadian Cranberries” article published on the Agriculture and Agri-food Canada website lauds the “tart red fruit” for having the potential to “provide a remarkable range of health benefits.”
“Cranberries, for example, contain chemicals that prevent the adhesion of bacteria to cell walls, which may help defend against the organisms that cause stomach ulcers and gum disease; probably for this reason, cranberries have long been a recognized treatment for urinary tract infections,” the article states.
“Cranberries may also improve cardiovascular health by reducing blood-cholesterol levels, and their anti-inflammatory properties may be a factor in promoting overall health.”
Traditionally, Endres would note spikes in demand for cranberries around Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The health-promoting angle is helping the berry gain more popularity on a year-round basis.
DIVERSIFICATION IS KEY
Endres said the price bottomed out a few years back, but it’s gradually going back up again.
“It’s getting better because the demand is increasing.”
He cautioned that growing cranberries is unlikely to lead to any overnight success stories.
Cranberry Acres has weather ups and downs since it was formed in 2001.
The Endres family built the multimillion-dollar venture, a 1,000 acre farm, from the ground up. It is a subsidiary of Perfect Berries Limited, which also grows and sells highbush blueberries.
Endres points to diversification as a saving grace in a business that is drastically impacted by the forces of nature.
The blueberry crops were particularly hard hit by the hurricaneforce winds and wet weather that tormented many Annapolis Valley fruit growers in late August and early September.
He estimates that about half of the harvest was lost as a result of weather-related variables beyond their control this season.
“The blueberry industry had to absorb a tremendous amount of hits from a weather point of view,” he said.
Cranberry Acres started building on the blueberry production side of the business to offset the dwindling prices in the cranberry market. Blueberries continue to sell for a better price, Endres said.
Endres is also the president of the Berwick-based Annapolis Valley Peat Moss Co. Ltd.
He admits that businesses built around agricultural endeavours endure their share of setbacks, but diversifying helps the Endres family deal with the variable nature of farming.
“It can be (stressful) if you let it be,” he said.
“It’s like any other stress, you need to learn to deal with it.”
In addition to finding a buyer in China, Cranberry Acres distributes locally, and to the European market.
RARE SPECTACLE
Travellers passing by the operation with land spanning from Highway 1 to the parallel section of Highway 101 may have been treated to a rare spectacle in recent weeks.
The blueberry harvest was long finished as of Nov. 7, but workers were still out harvesting cranberries in flooded fields.
This method, known as a wet harvest, creates a spectacle that often piques the interest of the public.
“Cranberry harvest is different… I think cranberries are a little mysterious, even in how they grow,” said Beth McPhee, quality assurance manager for Perfect Berries Ltd.
“People think they’re grown in the water, but actually they’re not.”
The fields are flooded with water from on-site holding ponds at the onset of the wet harvest process.
Cranberries destined for the frozen market are then slipped from the vines using specialized machinery dubbed “a ruby slipper” and float to the top of the water, creating a sea of bobbing red berries.
“You can see the cranberry is light because inside the cranberry is hollow to some degree… it’s light and it floats in the water,” Endres explained.
He estimates that roughly 60,000 pounds of cranberries can be harvested in a single day using the water method, whereas a dry harvest for the fresh market might yield about 10,000 pounds in a day.
“On a cost basis, we can produce a good harvest for a quarter of the price than a dry harvest,” he said.
Endres stressed that a combination of a strong local workforce and use of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program has been essential to his business. “I have some good people.” He plans to make adjustments for next season based on the spike in demand saw this year.
“It takes some work,” he said. “But we have a good crew.”