Chatsworth, New Jersey – At 78, Stephen Lee III faces an uncertain future.
Six generations of his family have farmed a 135-acre cranberry bog in South Jersey.
“In farming, you don't know what's going to happen next,” Lee said.
Over the past four months, Lee Brothers Cranberry Farm has received only three inches of rain – about a foot less than normal. Earlier this month, New Jersey announced a drought warning amid dry conditions that contributed to its spread multiple wildfires In the state.
“The National Weather Service says this severe drought in this part of South Jersey is a 150-year event,” Lee said.
And before temperatures drop to single digits, cranberry bogs need to be watered to keep the delicate buds from drying out.
Typically, waterways flow into a lease reservoir. But now it is a surreal landscape, broken and drained of bones.
“It's shocking,” said Lee's daughter Jennifer. “And all you can do is stare at him.”
Jennifer says they turned to a backup well to pump water for their recent crop. But that well is also 20 feet below normal.
“We're lucky,” Jennifer explained. “There are some producers who don't have a well and…they haven't been successful this year.”
Still, pumping well water into the swamp this season would cost about $30,000 in fuel.
And near the farm, wildfire that started in july Still smoldering due to drought. It's a threat that will keep Lee from the Thanksgiving tradition of gathering with family in Maine.
“I'll be here and smell the smoke and try to figure out if cranberries are safe,” Lee said.
It is the price of guarding next year's harvest and his family's inheritance.
