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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Corvallis, Oregon » Horticultural Crops Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #318001
Title: Blackberry production in the Pacific northwestern US: A long history and a bright future

Author
item Finn, Chad
item STRIK, BERNADINE - Oregon State University

Submitted to: Meeting Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/1/2015
Publication Date: 6/18/2015
Citation: Finn, C.E., Strik, B.C. 2015. Blackberry production in the Pacific northwestern US: A long history and a bright future. In: Proceedings of the International Rubus and Ribes Symposium, June 18-24, 2015, Asheville, NC.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The US Pacific Northwest has a long history of blackberry production and research. The breeding program began in the 1920s with Darrow and later Waldo. They utilized the native Rubus ursinus along with ‘Logan’ in their breeding to develop the first commercial cultivars ‘Pacific’ and ‘Cascade’ in the 1930s. These two, along with ‘Logan’, ‘Santiam’, and the R. laciniatus selection ‘Evergreen’, served as the basis for the industry. Initially fruit was canned and shipped back to the population centers in the eastern US. Freezing to preserve the crop took off once the technology was developed particularly by Birdseye’s innovations in the 1920s. The program developed ‘Olallie’ in the 1940s that became, along with ‘Boysen’, the major cultivars in California until the blackberries developed by Driscoll Strawberry Assoc. surpassed them in the early 1990s. In 1956, ‘Marion’ was released and while it took about 10 years for ‘Marion’, marketed as marionberry, to take off, once it did, it became the dominant cultivar. Marion's release and the development of the machine harvester in the 1960s combined with the ideal climate for blackberry production in the Willamette Valley cemented this region’s importance for the industry. Being dependent on selling close to 100 percent of your crop as processed fruit has been a challenge. Hard winters lead to dramatically fluctuating availability of fruit and concurrent dramatically fluctuating prices that in turn makes processors reluctant to develop new products. Thorns in the machine harvested product also have been a challenge that needed to be overcome. ‘Black Diamond’, a thornless, high yielding, and more winter tolerant cultivar helped increase the reliability of a high quality crop. This stable production, with increased consumer interest, has led to a steadily increased production of fruit for processing as well as for the fresh market. A wonderful climate and a determined industry that has supported collaborative horticultural research and cultivar development have been keys to the development of a vibrant PNW industry.