Inside America's Massive Cranberry Industry: What Really Happens After the Cranberry Harvest?

How does the cranberry harvest really work? In 2024, American farmers harvested nearly 900 million pounds of cranberries, and to get them, they flooded their fields. This video follows the cranberry harvest from a frozen, sanded marsh to the water reels, the floating red fields, the berry pumps, and the sorting machines that check every berry. Every machine is labeled. Wisconsin grew about 61 percent of the U.S. crop in 2024. And here's the surprise: only about 3 percent of America's cranberries were sold as fresh fruit. The other 97 percent went to processing, for juice, sauce and sweetened dried cranberries. Stay to the end to see where the cranberry harvest goes after the flood. Subscribe to The Machine Yard for more giant machines and farm journeys from field to factory. 0:00 The Cranberry Harvest Journey 0:55 The Marsh 2:39 The Flood 3:57 The Cranberry Harvest 5:43 The Receiving Station 7:08 Where They Go #cranberryharvest #cranberries #themachineyard Data: USDA NASS, Noncitrus Fruits and Nuts 2024 Summary (May 2025) — https://esmis.nal.usda.gov/sites/defa... Narration: AI voice. Holiday table scenes are stock footage from Pexels. Footage courtesy of (each clip carries an on-screen credit): A Country Life, Ben Gebo, Cape Cod and Beyond, Colleen Bovaird, Current Wave Media, Daily Drone FPV, Dale Duley, Dan McKinney V, Dennis Wilkinson, Dirt Brute, Dokken65, Drone House Digital Media, Gopher Aerial, Jonathan Dersch, Kate's Ag, Katie Dougherty, KeyTechWW, Luke Parmeter, MossMan381, Paul's Machine & Tool Inc, Segrin Family Films, Smith Cinematic Aerials, Teegan's Outdoors and Agriculture, US Cranberries, Wayne Avis, WECO Sorting, Wisconsin Cranberries, Pexels. Music: YouTube Audio Library.