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Cranberry Crazy

Pittsville FFA educate on Wisconsin’s No. 1 fruit crop

Cranberry Crazy

Part of FFA tour guide Angie Dammann’s job is to show the end results of cranberry production – a large yield of the ripe, red berries.



October 2007

Wisconsin enjoys a bountiful cranberry harvest each October, and FFA members at Pittsville High School are right in the middle of the marshes.

The Pittsville FFA Chapter and Pittsville High School’s cranberry science class – touted as the only class of its kind in the nation – team up five times in October to give their annual Splash of Red Cranberry Highway Tours.

Guided by FFA members and cranberry science students in the 10th, 11th and 12th grades, the tours take visitors on buses to see cranberry marshes in different stages of production and teach them about growing, harvesting, testing, cleaning and freezing cranberries.

“They can even get off the bus and pick handfuls of cranberries right off the vines,” says Bill Urban, Pittsville FFA advisor and agricultural education instructor. “At the end of the tour, the visitors enjoy a meal of cranberry juice, sweetened dried cranberries, cranberry salad, croissants, cranberry bars or cookies and a bag of fresh cranberries.”

The Perfect Location
Pittsville seems the logical place for these cranberry-crazed FFA members. After all, close to one-third of Wisconsin’s cranberry crop comes from the Pittsville area, and the state produces more cranberries than any other. In fact, more than half of the nation’s cranberries are produced in Wisconsin, so the Splash of Red Cranberry Highway Tours are a great way for local FFA members to get a jumpstart on an agricultural career – or any career, for that matter.

Frankie Barber, a senior planning to study criminal justice law enforcement, says giving cranberry tours has helped enhance his public-speaking skills.

“It’s definitely a challenge, because you get nervous, and it’s a new experience,” he says. “But it’s some­thing I will use for the rest of my life.” Barber’s favorite aspect of the tour is teaching people about cranberry production.

“A lot of the tourists go in not knowing anything about cranberries, and by the end of the tour, they’ve learned the entire process, from planting the beds to harvesting to the freezer,” he says.

Junior Angie Dammann is a tour guide for the freezer portion of the cranberry tour.

“I learned about how the cranberries are stacked in the freezer, the temperature requirements, how long it takes to freeze them and the cost of running a freezer,” Dammann says.

Christian Coyle, a sophomore, lives on a cranberry marsh with her family and has been in FFA for two years.

“Leading the tours was a great opportunity to learn even more about cranberries,” Coyle says. “I liked learning about the freezing process, because I didn’t know much about it before.”

Coyle also enjoyed meeting tourists from around the nation and the world.

“This year, we had a couple from Australia,” she says.

Visitors from Everywhere
About 370 people from across the globe took the cranberry tour in 2006, and the majority of them discovered it online.

“We’ve had people from Canada, Washington state and even a couple who were former FFA members that did the tour as part of their honeymoon,” Urban says.

Butch Gardner owns 650 acres of cranberry marshes in Wisconsin, including the marshes where the tours are given, and donates the juice, fresh cranberries and sweetened dried cranberries for the tours.

It’s because of his generosity that the students have access to the marshes.

“Doing the tours gives the kids practical knowledge and good experience, and they’re learning about Wisconsin’s No. 1 fruit crop,” Gardner says. “They learn about the growing and harvesting processes, and they do an excellent job telling people about it.”

Urban says he often boosts the students’ confidence by reminding them “they know more about cranberries than 99.9 percent of people in the world.”

A Good Fundraiser
Tourists pay a fee to take the cranberry tours, and the money raised helps send FFA students to the state and national FFA conventions and leadership conferences. The money also pays for T-shirts the students wear while giving the cranberry tours. 

“Providing these tours presents a higher learning experience for the students because it puts them in a spot where they’re treated as adults and leaders,” Urban says. “At first they’re not comfortable, but it prepares them for leadership positions, maybe on the city council or the town board. There are definitely long-term benefits.”

The most rewarding part for Urban is seeing the students’ confidence grow from the first to
the last tour.

“I always eat lunch with the tourists after the tour, and they are so complimentary of the students,” he says. “They’re always amazed at how well-prepared the students are. We’re preparing tomorrow’s leaders.”

Story by Jessica Mozo
Photography by Wes Aldridge


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The National FFA Organization is dedicated to making a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education. Visit ffa.org