Chatsworth, New Jersey — At the age of 78, Stephen Lee III is facing an uncertain future.
Six generations of his family have farmed 135 acres of cranberry bogs in South Jersey.
“In farming, you don’t know what’s next,” Lee said.
In the last four months, it has only rained about three inches at the Lee Brothers Cranberry Farm — about a foot less than normal. Earlier this month, New Jersey declared a drought warning amid dry conditions that contributed to the spread of multiple wildfires in the state.
“The National Weather Service says this extreme drought in this part of South Jersey is a 150-year event,” Lee said.
And before temperatures dip to single digits, the cranberry bogs will have to be flooded to keep the fragile buds from drying out.
Typically, waterways feed into the Lees’ reservoir. But now it’s a surreal landscape, cracked and bone dry.
“It’s shocking,” Lee’s daughter Jennifer said. “And all you can do is kind of stare out and look at it.”
Jennifer says they turned to a backup well to pump water for their recent harvest. But even that well is 20 feet lower than normal.
“We’re lucky,” Jennifer explained. “There are some growers who don’t have a well and…they weren’t successful this year.”
Still, pumping the bogs with well water will cost nearly $30,000 in fuel this season.
And near the farm, a wildfire that started in July is still smoldering, fueled by the drought. It’s a threat that will keep Lee away from a Thanksgiving tradition of gathering with family in Maine.
“I’m going to stay here and smell for smoke and try to figure out if the cranberries are protected,” Lee said.
It’s the price of guarding next year’s crop and his family’s heritage.
