MIDDLEBORO, Mass. (AP) – A few weeks before Thanksgiving, some of the cranberries in plates On Thursday, they float on the Rocky Meadow bog in southeastern Massachusetts.

The cranberries made this pond rosy purple. Several workers, waist-deep in water, carefully carry the berries to a pump which sucks them onto a waiting truck. There, the berries pass through a system that separates them from the leaves and vines and are transported to the processing plant, which ultimately turns them into sauce, juice, or sweet, dried berries.

Native wetland plants that produce cranberries begin growing in May. When they are ready to harvest, farmers flood their bogs with water and send a picking machine to shake the berries from the vines. Then more water is added to the bog 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, at the edge of his bog.

The harvest runs from September to early November and Ward is expected to produce between 15,000 and 20,000 barrels, the best harvest he’s had in three years. About 80% of these berries will go to Ocean Spray, a major producer of cranberry products in the United States.

The bog is one of nearly 300 in Massachusetts covering some 14,000 acres, and this year farmers are expected to produce 2.2 million barrels of cranberries, including one barrel equivalent to 100 pounds (45 kilograms). This represents an increase of 12% compared to last year. Massachusetts is the second-largest cranberry-producing region in the United States behind Wisconsin, and the industry there dates back to the 1800s.

Despite the industry’s size, the state’s farmers have overcome several challenges over the years, from trade wars to falling prices to a glut of berries. Some have sold their peatlands or decided to diversify by putting solar panels around their peatlands. Ward has two solar sites near its peatlands and plans to install floating solar installations on its waterholes and reservoirs.

Ward said farmers also must adapt to a changing climate — which Massachusetts Cranberries, an industry advocacy group, says could lead to a smaller harvest this year.

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