Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
changing climate production systems must adapt to high temperatures and extreme
weather events, with plant dormancy being especially affected. Water availability
and quality is a further consideration throughout horticulture, and the berry industry
is not immune from these issues.
The reduction in public breeding programs is shifting the industry towards big-
ger companies that are able to develop their own private breeding programs, and
this can ultimately reduce consumer choices. However, on the other hand, local
markets with specific regional cultivars are becoming more popular. Overall, berry
consumption is increasing due to their high levels of health-promoting compounds,
and research into their nutritional effects, including those from raspberry, is attract-
ing more and more young researchers. These attributes for raspberry can have a
positive effect on future production and marketing.
Blackberries
Introduction
Commercial production of blackberry (
Rubus
subg.
Rubus
Watson) has expanded
dramatically from the late twentieth to early twenty-first Century (Finn and Clark
2011
; Strik et al.
2007
). A few decades ago, blackberries were either unavailable in
grocery stores or they were only available from local suppliers during a short season
when locally produced berries were ripe. Now blackberries are in the marketplace
next to raspberries and blueberries year-round, with off-season fruit being shipped
in from warm-season production areas.
Humans have probably always included blackberries in their diet as they are
often common and abundant in their native range (Jennings
1988
). Archaeolo-
gists found evidence of
Rubus
as a food source in central Oregon (USA) that
can be carbon dated to about 8,000 bcE (Hummer and Janick
2007
). The first
mention of blackberries in literature was by Theophrastus in 370 bcE and their
representation in iconography extends back to the Juliana Anicia Codex of 512
CE. Blackberries began to be mentioned in gardening topics in the late 1600s.
Breeding to improve blackberries as a crop began in the late 1800s in Europe and
North America (Clark and Finn
2011
).
The first large-scale commercial production began on the Pacific Coast of the
US in the early 1900s, primarily with the cultivation of cultivars such as 'Logan'
and 'Boysen' that are hybrids between blackberry and red raspberry. This produc-
tion fed the growing population in this region and it was canned, and, when the
technology developed, frozen to be shipped to the eastern population centres.
Until the late twentieth Century most fresh fruit was harvested locally often from
wild stands. New cultivars, production techniques and new production areas have
lead to year-round availability of fresh and processed blackberries (Table
9.1
).
