News

Wisconsin high school’s Splash of Red Cranberry Tour part of special science class

A group of Wisconsin high school students learns about cranberries and shares that knowledge through agro-tourism.

Pittsville, Wisconsin has the nation’s only high school cranberry science class.  It’s available to juniors and seniors during the first quarter when the fall harvest is underway.

Ag Educator and FFA Advisor Lindsay Meissner tells Brownfield first, they learn about the fruit that is more common in their home county than anywhere else in the world.  Then, they lead visitors from all over the world through cranberry beds, storage, and processing facilities.  “The students that give the tours are all prepped in the first two weeks, three weeks of school, and then we give tours, sometimes up to four different days on a week’s schedule.”

Superintendent Rodney Figueroa sees students learning skills they will use long after they graduate.  “We are always talking about our young people gaining soft skills that they can use for their future and for employment.  The communication, the organization, the being able to problem-solve on the fly, those are all big components of this program.”

Like many students, senior Brooke Darr didn’t grow up on a farm, and didn’t know much about the berries commonly found near her hometown. “Most definitely, yeah.  I didn’t really have a very good background and didn’t know a whole lot at all and just being in this class definitely helped.”

One of the Pittsville seniors has a lot of inside knowledge of the cranberry industry.  Tyler Gardner tells Brownfield his father and uncle transitioned from dairy and pork to growing cranberries and then expanded to cover transportation, cold storage, and processing their own juice concentrate and sweet and dried cranberries or craisins.  Gardner tells Brownfield, “I knew a fair amount of stuff going into it (the class) so it kind of helped out quite a bit and I can always help out the teacher, too.”  As a second-generation in the family cranberry business, Gardner often transports berries or works at the plant in the evening after football practice.

Meissner says Pittsville’s Splash of Red Cranberry Tour started almost 19 years ago when FFA alumni members and community members wanted to offer an agro-tourism adventure to bring awareness of Wood County’s cranberry industry.  Former Pittsville ag instructor Bill Urban worked with them to develop the curriculum and tour for the first 17 years.  Now, visitors from many states and foreign countries connect through the school’s website to take the tour.

About 75 visitors including Ag Secretary Sheila Harsdorf saw the cranberry business up close Wednesday.

Listen to the Brownfield interviews from the Splash of Red Cranberry Tour here:

Lindsay Meissner

Sup. Rodney Figueroa

Brooke Darr

Tyler Gardner