Cooperative Extension: Cranberries

What’s New?

PFAS and COVID-19 Resources for Farmers:

• Guide to Investigating PFAS Risk on your Farm
• PFAS Contamination Response
• COVID-19 Information for Maine Farmers
• COVID-19 & Maine Agriculture FAQ

Videos and TV/Radio Stories:

• Dry Cranberry Harvest in Troy  – By Linda Coan O’Kresik, Bangor Daily News Staff • October 27, 2016.
  From True Food TV (YouTube): Cranberry: How Does It Grow? and My BIGGEST Regret on My BIGGEST Video: Cranberry Harvest
  
• UMaine Extension video: How to Use and Preserve Maine Cranberries.
• “Connecticut-grown Cranberries Making a Comeback“ (see also the CT Cranberry Farm featured in the news story, as well as a new/followup story that aired in October of 2019: “Owner of Bishop’s farm ‘branches’ out to offer only locally-grown CT cranberries“
• A heart-warming NPR Thanksgiving story: “For Expats In Afghanistan, A Cranberry Dish To Relish Far From Home“

Announcing:

• [From the Cranberry Institute] Cranberries and Warfarin: Cranberries are Safe to Consume with Warfarin (Coumadin®). If you’ve not seen it, the Cranberry Institute has a cranberry health newsletter called Cranberry Health News
• Portland Press Herald (2015):
  • “Easy as pie to celebrate rebound for Maine cranberries“
  • “Maine Gardener: You don’t need a bog to grow your own cranberries“
• Bangor Daily News: “Cranberries add a note of seasonal color to holiday meals” (Nov. 2014)
• Maine Morsels (blog) (part of the BDN Maine Network): Cranberries in March? Yes, it’s the best time to pick!
• The Ellsworth American: “Cranberry Bog Bounces Back To Life“ (Nov. 2012)

Helpful information surrounding the FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Rule:

Are We Covered or Not-Covered? Cranberry has been designated as a “rarely consumed raw” produce, and as such, unless you have a buyer who requires compliance with the FSMA Rule, then cranberry growers are exempt from the FSMA Produce Rule. To help ‘other’ farmers with this question, however, UMass Cooperative Extension has developed an online-interactive assessment tool to guide people through understanding if their farm is covered or not, and at what level. Find out how FSMA will affect your farm.

See also:

• UMaine Extension: Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Produce Safety Rule Exemptions
• UMaine Extension: Explanation of Required Records for the Food Safety Modernization Act Produce Safety Rule
• FSMA Record-keeping Requirements and Templates — Concerned about what records you need to keep to be compliant with FSMA? The Produce Safety Alliance has compiled a list of needed records and template record-keeping documents to use. Download or print the FSMA Record-keeping Templates (PDF).

More Things to Check Out:

• UMaine Extension Blog called Spoonful (Bite-sized Food & Nutrition Information)
• Assistance for new farmers in Maine