The severe lack of rain means a big financial hit to operations because farmers can’t rely on the local streams and rivers to flood the bogs for harvest. Generations of the Lee family gathered this fall, as they have every year since 1868, to harvest cranberries at the Lee Brothers Farm in Chatsworth, Burlington County. Stephen V. Lee III, 78, has farmed the fruit for decades. He walked Thursday on the sand road of a bog filled with scarlet berries that bobbed at the water’s surface. Workers, including family members, stood hip-deep in the water, raking berries toward a submerged vacuum that sucked the fruit to the top of a truck. Cranberry harvesting is an annual colorful ritual in New Jersey. But this year is anything but typical. The data showed more than 12 inches of rain fell from August through October in 2022 and 2023. This year: 1.54 inches for the same period, and zero for October.
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