MIDDLEBORO, Mass. (AP) – Weeks before Thanksgiving, some of the cranberries on Thursday’s plates are floating in the Rocky Meadow bog in southeastern Massachusetts.

The cranberries have turned this pond crimson. Several workers stand waist-deep in water and carefully push the berries toward a pump, which sucks them onto a waiting truck. There, the berries go through a system that separates them from leaves and vines and are transported to the processing plant, where they are finally made into sauce, juice or sweet and dried berries.

The native wetland plants that produce cranberries begin growing in May. When they’re ready to harvest, farmers flood their moors with water and send out a picking machine to shake the berries from the vines. Water is then added to the moor again and the released cranberries float to the surface.

“The season was pretty good this year. We had a pretty good harvest,” said Steve Ward, a second-generation cranberry grower, on the edge of his moor.

Harvest runs from September to early November and Ward is expected to produce between 15,000 and 20,000 barrels, the best harvest he has had in three years. About 80% of these berries go to Ocean Spray, a large manufacturer of cranberry products in the USA

This bog is one of nearly 300 in Massachusetts covering about 14,000 acres, and this year farmers are expected to produce 2.2 million barrels of cranberries, with one barrel weighing 100 pounds (45 kilograms). This is an increase of 12% compared to the previous year. Massachusetts is the second largest cranberry growing region in the United States after Wisconsin, and the industry there dates back to the 19th century.

Despite the size of the sector, farmers in the state have overcome several challenges over the years, from trade wars to falling prices to an oversupply of berries. Some have sold their bogs or diversified by putting solar panels around their bogs. Ward has two solar sites near its moors and is considering building floating solar arrays on its waterholes and reservoirs.

Ward said farmers also need to adapt to a changing climate — which could lead to a smaller harvest this year, according to Massachusetts Cranberries, a group that advocates on behalf of the industry.

“We’ve had some challenges with the hot weather and had one of the longest dry spells we’ve ever had,” he said. “We are having more days with a temperature of 90 degrees (32 degrees Celsius) together. The cranberry plants just don’t like this weather. Our average temperatures, especially at night, are higher. Cranberries need cooler temperatures at night.”

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW