By Malinda Geisler, content specialist, Ag Marketing Resource Center, Iowa State University.

Reviewed May 2008.

Overview
Oregon is the predominant source of cultivated blackberry production. According to the USDA, Oregon raised 63.5 million pounds of blackberries in 2007. The value of fresh and processed blackberries that year was $28.4 million.

Blackberries are classified based on growth habit. There are erect varieties, semi-erect and trailing. The erect varieties do not need trellised if they are properly pruned. Semi-erect and trailing blackberries require trellising. A bramble is a term used to describe blackberries and raspberries. Both species derive from the genus Rubus.
 

Sources
Fruits and Tree Nuts, Briefing Room, ERS, USDA.

Noncitrus Fruits and Nuts, National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA.

Other Links

• 2003 Blackberry Marketing Fact Sheet, University of Kentucky - This two-page fact sheet includes breakeven prices for three varieties of Kentucky fresh market blackberries.
• 2001 Kentucky Blackberry Cost and Return Estimates, University of Kentucky - This online blackberry budget provides estimates for all aspects of production, harvest and marketing.
• Blackberry Packaging and Produce Auction Prices, University of Kentucky, 2000 - This research study examined price sensitivity for blackberry packaging.
• Brambles – Production Management and Marketing, Production management and marketing, Ohio State University - This online document reviews the management, pests and marketing of blackberries and raspberries.
• Enoch’s Berry Farm, Fouke, Arkansas - This farm has three acres of blackberries and three acres of blueberries for you-pick. The farm also sells plants and root cuttings. Enoch’s Berry Farm is licensed by the University of Arkansas to propagate the school’s patented varieties.
• Estimated Costs of Producing, Harvesting and Marketing Blackberries in the Southeastern United States, North Carolina State University.
• Gillam Farms, Judsonia, Arkansas - This family farm consists of more than 500 acres of fruits and vegetables. Main crops consist of blackberries and blueberries.
• Hurst’s Berry Farm, Sheridan, Oregon - Established in 1980, the farm includes 70 acres of berries. The operation, which specializes in the wholesale distribution of fresh berries, now ships and packs berries from more than 50 of Oregon’s top growers. All berries shipped throughout the United States and world are packed in clamshells.
• McKemie HomeGrown Farm, Dale, Texas - This farm raises blackberries and tomatoes on 50 acres and markets primarily to Austin area grocery stores located some 35 miles north. What was intended as a peach tree farm has expanded into other crops including spinach, pears and cream peas.
• North American Bramble Growers Association - A professional association dedicated to the advancement of the raspberry and blackberry industries.
• Northwest Berry & Grape Information Network - This Web site is sponsored by Oregon State University, the University of Idaho, Washington State University and USDA-ARS.
• Oregon Berry Packing Company, Hillsboro, Oregon - This family-owned business supplies berries to premium wholesale distributors. In addition to blackberries, the company also markets black raspberries, blueberries, fresh berries and frozen strawberries.
• Oregon Raspberry & Blackberry Commission - This commission promotes raspberries, blackberries and other caneberries.
• Organic Culture of Bramble Fruits, Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural America (ATTRA), 2003 - This publication addresses the production and marketing of organic blackberries and raspberries.
• Small Fruit, Tree Fruit and Berry Pathology, Cornell University - This Web site provides links to other berry resources.

Links checked February 2008.