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Oregon’s berry crops offer tantalizing flavors, color, taste, and nutrition contributing to healthy foods and lifestyles. The superb quality of regon’s blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and cranberries are known worldwide, adding a farm value of $140 million to local economies in 2007. Consumers are attracted to products, local markets, U-pick, and festivals featuring Oregon berries, including currants, gooseberry, kiwifruit, and a new crop, lingonberry.

Oregon berries:

• add an abundance of flavors, colors, and textures to jam, yogurt, and ice cream.
• improve health and food choices with vibrant colors and antioxidants.
• bring money to rural communities, workers, and local economies.
• add consumer convenience with extended harvests and local markets.

Teaching

Students learn berry production within the context of plant biology and genetics, soils, ecology, and economics with applications in plant nutrition, pest management, business, and marketing. Learning to manage real-world dilemmas with case studies, field trips, and internships encourages students to interact with growers, managers, field reps, and consultants. Student-run clubs provide opportunities for leadership and extracurricular activities.

Horticulture courses include:

• Berry production and physiology
• Case studies in crop management systems
• Horticulture management planning
• Internship

Extension

Educational programs involving berry crops are designed for commercial producers, Master Gardeners, and home horticulture. Workshops and field days for specific commodities, the Berry and Grape Infonet website, bulletins, newsletters, and regional publications are recognized sources of diverse educational material. Primary emphasis has focused on improvement of berry farm and food systems, the environment, and management of natural resources.

Research

Collaborative partnerships and interdisciplinary research with industry leaders, the USDA Northwest Center for Small Fruit Research (NCSFR), and the OSU-USDA Cooperative Berry Crop Breeding Program have benefited industries in the Pacific Northwest, the U.S., and the world. New cultivar releases have improved production efficiency and tolerance to disease. Other research adopted by growers includes:

• better timing of renovation in strawberry for improved yields
• high density planting systems to reduce fruit losses in machine-harvested blueberries
• early season cane burning in blackberries reduces purple blotch disease and allows harvest every year
• alternate year and light pruning of cranberries
• machine harvest of Marion blackberries in winter to knock off thorns as potential contaminants
• arc cane training of red raspberries to improve economic returns for processing
• crops or cultivars with nutritional or antioxidant content to improve health
• improved pest management systems involving weeds, diseases, and insects in berry crops
• timing and application of fertilizer and irrigation to maintain plant growth, save money, and minimize environmental impact
• sawdust applications in blueberries to conserve water, fertilizer, and beneficial mycorrhizae

New directions

• Search for ways to diversify crops, products, markets, and value-added enterprises to keep profits on the farm and in rural communities
• Explore methods of improving labor in berry crops while maintaining quality
• Advance the use of educational technology to reach diverse audiences across Oregon
• Continue partnerships with USDA colleagues, adjusting programs to meet the changing needs of science, industry, and people of Oregon

Benefits

• Currently, 100 students are enrolled in Horticulture; 33 graduated in 2007.
• Berry growers produce exceptional products while improving the quality of life in their communities.
• Berries add a rich array of flavors, colors, nutrition, and market appeal to processed foods.
• Processed products are sold across the United States, returning money to rural communities.
• Consumers enjoy healthy food, lifestyles, lively markets, and convenience.
• Oregon’s beauty, scenery, environment, and ecosystems are maintained with farm and food systems.