Organic Cranberry Production

Organic Cranberry Production

One doesn’t usually associate growing cranberries with Washington state, but cranberries are grown here none the less. It’s not always easy, especially if you’re trying to grow organic cranberries, but Jared Oakes and his partner Jessika Tantisook haven’t let that stop them from pursuing their dream of having Washington states first successful organic cranberry farm. Together they are pioneering the production of organic cranberry production at their Starvation Alley Farm in Long Beach, Washington.

OAKES: When my partner Jessika and I got into cranberry farming to begin with we decided outright that we didn’t want to use chemicals the way that normally has been done. And that just kind of led us down the path of trying to be the first farm in Washington to transition to organic.

Jessika talks about the challenges.

TANTISOOK: One of the big challenges for us as transitional organic cranberry farmers is that there’s not very much research at all. So it’s all trial and error, and for a small farm, especially a start up farm that’s looking at possibly becoming an independent farm soon it’s just the money, the time, the resources - they’re not readily available.

In the face of these challenges Jared and Jessika have turned to Kim Patten an extension professor who runs WSU’s agricultural research station in Long Beach and has devoted more than twenty years of his life to cranberry research. Patten agrees that it’s a challenge to grow cranberries, let alone organic cranberries, in the state of Washington, but says that the tools are there to grow organically, the markets are there, so it’s just a matter of finding young enthusiastic people willing to devote the energy and passion in to making organic cranberry production successful.

I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network. 

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