California Ag Network

Category: Berries

  • UC Davis Enters New International Strawberry Licensing Agreements

    The University of California, Davis, has reached new agreements to license more than a dozen of its world-renowned strawberry varieties to growers in countries across the world.

    The agreements ensure that nurseries and fruit growers in Mexico, South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East have access to all available varieties developed by the UC Davis Public Strawberry Breeding Program.

    Strawberry plant varieties developed at UC Davis produce about 60% of all strawberries consumed around the world.

    UK-based Global Plant Genetics, or GPG, will add 15 legacy varieties of UC Davis strawberry plants to its existing portfolio in China, South America, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. GPG, which has been a UC Davis master licensee since 2018, already oversees licensing of a dozen of the more recently developed UC Davis varieties in those markets.

    Fresa Fortaleza, or F2, is the new master licensee for the legacy varieties in Mexico. Since 2020, the San Diego-based company has been the master licensee in Mexico for the more recently developed UC Davis varieties.

    Earlier this year, UC Davis severed ties with former master licensee Eurosemillas as to these legacy varieties.

    “We are pleased to have expanded our agreements with GPG and Fresa Forteleza,” said Helene Dillard, dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “We appreciate the shared commitment to maintaining outstanding relationships with our nurseries and growers and providing vigorous support for the UC Davis Public Strawberry Breeding Program.”

    The new agreements cover:

    • The European Union, Switzerland and the United Kingdom
    • Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay
    • China
    • Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Turkey.

    The UC Davis Public Strawberry Breeding Program seeks to address the needs of growers by developing strawberries for positive characteristics including greater yield, flavor, disease resistance, and adaptation to different growing conditions. The university directly licenses strawberry varieties to nurseries in Canada and the U.S. and offers California strawberry growers a competitive advantage through exclusive access to new varieties for two years and reduced royalty rates.

    The program, funded primarily by revenue from licensing strawberry varieties, also trains students and postdoctoral researchers to be leaders in the field.

  • UC Davis Researchers Target Spotted-Wing Drosophila and its Threat Against California Berries

    Back in 2010, the UC Davis entomology labs of integrated pest management specialist Frank Zalom and molecular geneticist and physiologist Joanna Chiu  joined forces to target the spotted-wing drosophila (SWD), a serious threat to berry production in California.

    Drosophila suzukii, native to southeast Asia and first discovered in California in 2008, lays its eggs in such soft-skinned, ripening fruits as strawberries, raspberries, cherries, blueberries, peaches, nectarines, apricot and grape.

    It packs a powerful economic impact. The first year of its discovery in California, the economic loss amounted to $500 million. Latest statistics from 2015 indicate a $700 million national economic loss.

    The Zalom lab discovered the first SWD field populations with insecticide resistance in 2017. As the pest continues to spread throughout much of the country, anxious growers are worried about its increased resistance to pesticides.

    The team’s newly published research in Scientific Reports is the first to characterize the molecular mechanisms of insecticide resistance in D. suzukii and provide insights into how current management practices can be optimized.

    Lead author of the paper, “Transcriptome Analysis of Drosophila suzukii Reveals Molecular Mechanisms Conferring Pyrethroid and Spinosad Resistance,” is Christine Tabuloc, then a doctoral candidate and now a postdoctoral researcher working under the mentorship of Professors Chiu and Zalom.

    “In this work, we leveraged high throughput sequencing to identify biomarkers of insecticide resistance in D. suzukii,” Tabuloc explained. “We found that different genes are responsible for resistance to different chemicals. Specifically, we found that genes involved in metabolism are highly expressed in flies resistant to pyrethroid insecticides. We also observed evidence of two different mechanisms of resistance in 2 lines generated from a single spinosad-resistant population. We found an increased expression of metabolic genes in one line and increased expression of cuticular genes in the other.”

    “Therefore, we developed a diagnostic panel using these biomarker genes to differentiate between pyrethroid resistance and spinosad resistance,” Tabuloc related. “Not only can our assay now inform whether there is resistance, it can tell us which chemical the population is resistant to and how severe the resistance is. Additionally, this method is faster, enables for the testing of more populations, and is more comprehensive as compared to bioassays, the conventional way of testing for resistance.”

    Tabuloc added that “our work has enabled for the detection of resistance in California populations, and we are currently doing a nationwide screening to determine whether resistance is now present in other states. Currently, we are working with the Zalom lab to use the results of our assays to try and combat resistance. There are experiments in progress trying to increase the efficacy of insecticides by blocking some of the genes involved in resistance, such that the enzymes encoded by those genes have decreased function.”

    Zalom, a UC Davis distinguished professor emeritus who directed the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program for 16 years, said he has been “working on spotted-wing drosophila with Dr. Chiu and her lab members since she joined the UC Davis faculty in 2010, and it has been an absolute pleasure.”

    Zalom, a past president of the 7000-member Entomological Society of America (ESA) and an elected Honorary Member, ESA’s highest honor, praised Chiu, a 2019-2024 Chancellor’s Fellow professor and now chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology, as “one of the most collaborative researchers who I have ever worked with. When our lab found the first SWD field populations with insecticide resistance in 2017, it seemed obvious to ask Dr. Chiu about identifying the mechanism of resistance to different chemical classes and if it would be possible to develop a molecular diagnostic to confirm presence of  insecticide resistance in field populations without conducting the time consuming and labor-intensive bioassays that we were using.”

    “Dr. Chiu and her PhD student Christine Tabuloc took on this challenge and their work culminated in the description of genes associated with the resistance and the diagnostic assay presented in this paper,” Zalom said.

    The Zalom lab “selected the SWD isolines from California field populations displaying resistance to pyrethroids and spinosyns after conducting bioassays on many hundreds of SWD adults, then helped Dr. Tabuloc validate  results of the molecular assay,” he said.

    “This work not only represents good science; it has very practical implications,” Zalom said. “Dr. Tabuloc and I presented results of the work from both of our labs at a special berry grower seminar on insecticide resistance organized by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR) Farm Advisor Mark Bolda in Watsonville. The presentations were extremely well-received. The original program was targeted for about 1.5 hours, but the meeting extended to over three hours due to the extent of questions and great discussion that followed. Growers and their consultants are hungry for new information that they find interesting and potentially useful, and this work was clearly of interest to them.”

    Bolda, strawberry and caneberry farm advisor in Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito counties, “was the first person who found the insect and asked me to come down to look at it and the problem,” Zalom remembered. “That was 2008, and we weren’t able to get an actual species identification until 2009!”

    Bolda noted that the recent berry grower meeting targeted SWD resistance on the Central Coast, with the UC Davis entomologists presenting. “The research was top shelf and the need, of course, is very great,” Bolda said. “Some of the information that Frank and Christine presented has been put into immediate use in the industry.”

    “What made it really special was that since we were moving only a month or so later, and this was the last Extension meeting to be held at my UC Cooperative Extension Office,” Bolda said. “After 40 some years, that’s saying a lot and it was totally apropros that Frank, given his many, many years of service, was the very last to run a meeting there….and Christine presented also…she was really great and presented fabulous information.”

    Among the “iconic individuals of Central Coast strawberries” who attended, Bolda said, was retired entomologist Ed Show (Driscoll Strawberry Association, Inc.) “who has been a part of strawberries since the 1970s.”

    “It was nostalgic for me since it was the last meeting that was held there because they were moving to a new office,” Zalom said. “I must have done 80 presentations at that auditorium over the years, including some of the very first ones that I did when returning to California when I was doing research on brussels sprouts and apples in that area.”

    Fruitville Collaboration. Professor Chiu said the publication “culminated years of fruitful collaboration and hard work by our lab and Professor Zalom’s lab, primarily driven by Christine…This research could not have been accomplished without Christine who is uniquely qualified to successfully lead the project; she combines her knowledge in insect genomics and bioinformatics with Drosophila molecular genetics.”

    Chiu pointed out that “When the Zalom lab and my lab first started our collaboration in 2010, we were already worried about the potential development of insecticide resistance in D. suzukii given the primary method for management is insecticide application and the generation time of these flies are short. Unfortunately, this became a reality in 2017.”

    “We hope that our research in developing more efficient molecular diagnostics to identify resistant populations will help prevent the spread of resistance to other U.S. states by allowing them to be proactive; perhaps to adjust their management program as soon as low level of resistance is detected,” Chiu said. “We are continuing to perform research to determine if resistance, once found, can be ‘weakened’ and what are mechanisms that could drive it. We think this will be very beneficial for growers in California, who currently have to tackle D. suzukiiwith insecticide resistance.”

    Tabuloc, who joined the Chiu lab as an undergraduate research assistant in 2012, received her bachelor of science degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from UC Davis in 2015, and her doctorate from UC Davis in 2023.

    In addition to Chiu, Zalom and Tabuloc, the 12-member team of researchers and co-authors included Curtis Carlson, Kyle Lewald, Sergio Hidalgo, Cindy Truong and Ching-Hsuan Chen, all from the Chiu lab; Nicole Nicola and Fatemeh Ganjisaffar of the Zalom lab; and Cera Jones and Ashfaq Sial of the Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens. At the time, Truong and Chen were undergraduates, and Ganjisaffar was a postdoctoral fellow, and now a senior environmental scientist with the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

    Federal and state grants awarded to Chiu and Zalom funded the project: a USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture; and a California Department of Food and Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant. The team credits Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center for providing D. melanogaster stocks.

  • Tapping into Growing Market Opportunities for U.S. Blueberries

    According to Kasey Cronquist, President of the North American Blueberry Council and the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council, the global market potential for U.S. blueberries has been largely untapped, considering the tremendous growth opportunities he sees for the industry. The U.S. may reach a new record this year in blueberry production, and the increased supply is poised to meet the growing global demand for this nutrient-dense product. Watch Cronquist’s brief interview with Matthew Malcolm at California Ag Network and read more in California Fruit & Vegetable Magazine.

    Please thank this video’s sponsor Southern California Gas Company for their industry support.

  • New UC Study Estimates Costs for Growing Coastal Organic Strawberries

    A new study that can help growers and other readers estimate costs and potential returns for Central Coast organic strawberries was recently released by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, UC Cooperative Extension and the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.

    Organic strawberries represent approximately 13% of all strawberries produced along the Central Coast.

    “This study provides growers with a baseline to estimate their own costs, which can help when applying for production loans, projecting labor costs, securing market arrangements, or understanding costs associated with water and nutrient management and regulatory programs,” said Brittney Goodrich, UC Cooperative Extension specialist and study co-author.

    The cost study models a management scenario for a 30-acre farm, 27 acres of which are planted to organic strawberries.  The remaining acres are for the irrigation system, roads, and buildings.  The study describes the cultural practices used in organic strawberry production and harvest, including land preparation, soil fertility and pest management, irrigation and labor needs.

    The 20-page study shows costs for each operation, material inputs and costs, and cash and non-cash overhead costs in a variety of formats for one production and harvest cycle.  A ranging analysis is also included and shows potential profits or losses over a range of prices and yields.

    The new study, “2024 Sample Costs to Produce and Harvest Organic Strawberries,” can be downloaded from the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics website at https://coststudies.ucdavis.edu.

    For a detailed explanation of the assumptions and calculations used to estimate the costs and potential returns for each crop, readers can refer to the narrative portion of each study.

    Sample cost of production studies for many other commodities grown in California are also available at https://coststudies.ucdavis.edu.

    For more information about the organic strawberry cost study, contact Mark Bolda, University of California Cooperative Extension farm advisor, at mpbolda@ucanr.edu or Jeremy Murdock in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at jmmurdock@ucdavis.edu.

    UC Agriculture and Natural Resources brings UC information and practices to all 58 California counties. Through research and Cooperative Extension in agriculture, natural resources, economic growth, nutrition and youth development, our mission is to improve the lives of all Californians. Learn more at ucanr.edu and support our work at donate.ucanr.edu.

  • Biological Control Considerations and Research for Lettuce Growers

    Two of the worst pests plaguing lettuce growers in the Salinas Valley area are aphids, specifically lettuce-currant aphids (Nasovonia ribisnigri), and western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis). Lettuce-currant aphid is an invasive pest that sets up shop in the heart of the lettuce plant and will render the crop unsellable when it reaches high enough numbers. Thrips can both cause cosmetic damage to lettuce crops and are also responsible for the spread of Salinas impatiens necrotic spot virus (INSV), the fatal lettuce disease that has driven large losses since the 2020 growing season.

    While effective tools exist to control both aphids and thrips, they are almost exclusively chemical. Chemical sprays are increasingly under pressure due to changes in the regulatory framework in California as well as the development of pest resistance and discoveries of key chemistries in area watersheds1,2. The UC Davis FiVE lab biological control research program addresses a growing interest in developing alternative tools for managing both pests that do not rely on chemical applications. Biological control provides an opportunity for the management of thrips and aphids that do not rely on chemical tools.

    Biological control is defined as the use of natural enemies to control a target pest. Three general categories of biological control could possibly be used as management practices for lettuce pests in the Salinas Valley area:

    • Conservation biological control refers to the establishment and maintenance of resources and conditions favorable to a native or endemic beneficial species. Instead of releasing predators into crop fields, specific types of flowers and other habitats are planted to attract beneficial species that are already a part of the local ecosystem. To date, most efforts on biological control in lettuce have used the conservation biological control approach.

    • Inundative biological control involves the release of a beneficial insect species in large numbers with the expectation that the beneficials that are released will only provide control for a short amount of time before eventually dying out. Such releases would need to be repeated at regular intervals for the duration of the growing cycle for a crop.

    • Augmentative biological control refers to the use of releases of smaller numbers of beneficials to areas where a smaller population of the species already exists, but not in numbers great enough to provide adequate control of the targeted pest species. The goal of augmentative releases is to bolster already-existent populations of beneficial species so they achieve great enough numbers to provide control of the pest or pests of interest.

    Conservation biological control in the Salinas Valley

    Syrphid flies

    Aphid pests of lettuce have been effectively managed in some lettuce production systems through the planting of sweet alyssum adjacent to and interspersed within crop fields3. Sweet alyssum is a favorite of the Syrphid fly (Diptera: Syrphidae), the primary biological control agent used to control aphid pests in lettuce. Syrphids, also called hoverflies or flower flies, are a family of black and yellow pigmented flies which resemble bees and stinging wasps. The coloration is a protective camouflage; Syrphid flies are harmless to humans. Syrphid adults are frequently seen visiting flowers for their nectar and pollen, which the insect consumes both as an energy source and to support their reproduction.

    In exchange the female Syrphid flies will lay eggs in lettuce plants with lettuce aphid infestations, the primary food source for their young. Once the eggs hatch, the syrphid maggots, which are predatory on slow, soft-bodied insects, will feed on the aphids and suppress their population. Syrphid larvae are known to be voracious; some California species have been shown to consume upwards of 100 aphids per day4!

    Syrphids are the intended beneficiaries of most conservation biological control in central coast lettuce fields, but other beneficial species take advantage of these resources as well.

    Other predatory species love sweet alyssum

    Many other biological control agents are supported by insectary plantings5. Ladybird beetles often inhabit lettuce fields and may provide some control of lettuce aphid infestations. Common lacewings (family Chrysopidae) are also found in lettuce fields and insectary plantings. Lacewings, which are only predatory in their immature or larval life stage, can provide biological control services against lettuce aphids and western flower thrips. Minute pirate bug (Orius sp.) and aphid midges (Aphidoletes aphidimyza) have also been observed in and collected from insectary plantings in lettuce fields, but it is not known the extent to which they can suppress populations of lettuce aphid or Western flower thrips.

     UC Davis Fi-VE Bug IPM Lab biological control research programs

    Including insectary plantings to attract naturally occurring predators has historically been the only efficient way to get beneficial species into crop fields. Newly developed technology using drones as a dispersal tool may provide another option for growers interested in using biological control as part of their pest management programs for aphids and thrips. This technology drastically reduces the time and labor required to conduct large releases of laboratory-reared beneficial insects, making the approach more feasible for growers.

    As part of a research program funded by the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CA DPR) and in collaboration with Daniel Hasegawa at USDA-ARS and with Parabug, we are studying the release of biological control agents using drones for the management of aphid and thrips pests of lettuce crops. Our three experimental programs are as follows:

    In-field inundative releases of green lacewing larvae and predatory cucumeris mites to control aphids and thrips in lettuce

    In-field drone release of green lacewing eggs and predatory mites

    Experiments run by former Monterey County IPM Advisor Alejandro Del Pozo-Valdivia found that a single inundative release of green lacewing eggs (Chrysoperla rufilabris) in lettuce fields reduced aphid pressure six weeks after release6. Our experiment builds on Alejandro’s work, examining whether repeated releases of green lacewing eggs throughout the lettuce growing cycle reduce aphid numbers. Additionally, the experiment includes two treatments aimed at suppressing western flower thrips: inundative releases of a species of predatory mite (Amblyseius cucumeris), and a combined release of both predatory mites and green lacewing eggs.

    Augmentative releases to bolster non-syrphid predatory species in insectary strips and intercropped alyssum

    An insectary strip treated with an augmentative release of Orius insidious

    Other native predators of aphids and thrips are present in the insectary plantings growers use to attract syrphids, but their numbers are too low to provide suppression of thrips and aphids in adjacent crops. These species are reared by commercial insectaries, but using them in an inundative release could prove too costly for growers. Experiments in this program examine the use of smaller releases of these predatory species early in the growing cycle over insectary plantings. The goal is to determine whether the presence of floral resources allows the predators to stick around and build up enough in population to control aphids and thrips in the crop field. Experiments will be conducted with aphid midge (Aphidoletes aphidimyza), an aphid predator, and minute pirate bug (Orius insidiosus), a predator of western flower thrips.

    Augmentative releases to manage thrips in non-crop areas

    Drone release of thrips predators over ice plant

    Western flower thrips plague not just vegetable crop fields but also the vegetation surrounding crop areas. In this experiment, we will examine whether releases of cucumeris mites and minute pirate bugs over field edges planted with ice plant will establish these predators in the vegetation and provide long-term suppression of western flower thrips. — By Ian Grettenberger and Addie Abrams, UC Cooperative Extension

    Citations

    1. Deng, X. Study 321: Surface water monitoring for pesticides in agricultural areas in the Central Coast and southern California (2022)
    2. Gao, Y., Lei, Z. & Reitz, S. R. Western flower thrips resistance to insecticides: detection, mechanisms and management strategies. Pest Manag. Sci. 68, 1111–1121 (2012).
    3. Brennan, E. B. Agronomic aspects of strip intercropping lettuce with alyssum for biological control of aphids. Biol. Control 65, 302–311 (2013).
    4. Hopper, J. V., Nelson, E. H., Daane, K. M. & Mills, N. J. Growth, development and consumption by four syrphid species associated with the lettuce aphid, Nasonovia ribisnigri, in California. Biol. Control 58, 271–276 (2011).
    5. Bugg, R. L., Colfer, R. G., Chaney, W. E., Smith, H. A. & Cannon, J. Flower Flies (Syrphidae) and Other Biological Control Agents for Aphids in Vegetable Crops. (University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources, 2008). doi:10.3733/ucanr.8285.
    6. Del Pozo-Valdivia, A. I., Morgan, E. & Bennett, C. In-Field Evaluation of Drone-Released Lacewings for Aphid Control in California Organic Lettuce. J. Econ. Entomol. 114, 1882–1888 (2021).

  • California Blueberry Growers Anticipate and Welcome Largest Crop Ever

    As blueberry harvest begins in California, watch this brief video of California Fruit & Vegetable Editor Matthew Malcolm interviewing Todd Sanders from the California Blueberry Commission, who anticipates California’s largest harvest of blueberries ever this season.

  • Mechanical Pruning Trial in ‘French’ Prune – Through Year Three

    Work continues at the mechanical pruning trial site in Red Bluff. The trial, funded by the California Prune Board and led by Dr. Rich Rosecrance at Chico State, was initiated in 2019 and aims to identify lower cost pruning alternatives for growers without compromising yield or fruit quality. The study site is an orchard planted in 2011 at a spacing of 15’ x 18’ on Myrobalan seedling rootstock and irrigated with buried drip. This is a vigorous, well managed orchard with a history of producing 4-5 dry ton/acre. The study treatments are:

    1. Fall: Grower standard — ladders and loppers pruning, no topping (i.e. ‘control’).

    2. Spring: Topping and hedging both ways — cutting 5 sides of the canopy, with the tree row and across the tree row, plus topping (i.e. ‘boxed’).

    3. Fall: Topping and hedging both ways — cutting 5 sides of the canopy, with the tree row and across the tree row, plus topping (i.e. ‘boxed’).

    4. Spring: Hedging both sides of the tree row, no cross hedging — cutting 2 sides of the canopy, no topping (i.e. ‘hedged’). 

    5. Fall: Hedging both sides of the tree row, no cross hedging — cutting 2 sides of the canopy, no topping (i.e. ‘hedged’).

    Several measurements are collected annually to assess the effects of the pruning treatments. Highlights of 2021 results and planned 2022 measurements include:

    • –  Canopy volume was measured in May 2021. Trees boxed in spring were significantly smaller than the hand-pruned control. Trees boxed in fall or hedged in fall or spring did not differ significantly from the control.

    • –  A bark canker pathogen survey (Cytospora, Botryosphaeria, etc.) was conducted to establish a baseline of pathogens present in the field. Several canker pathogens were found, and the control treatment had the shortest canker length. A more thorough evaluation of disease presence and severity will be performed in 2022.

    • –  In 2021, a difference in severity of sunburn damage after extreme heat events was observed. The boxed treatments both had significantly less blue prune drop due to sunburn damage than the control or hedged treatments. This was surprising – fruit is typically exposed to higher light environments in the boxed trees. Though there is no definitive cause at the moment, it may be possible that bowing branches in the hedged treatments or reduced water stress in boxed trees due to smaller canopy size may have contributed. We will continue to assess these differences.

    • –  2021 treatment yields ranged between 3.0 and 4.3 dry ton marketable (A+B screens) yield per acre and no significant differences were found among the treatments in 2021 nor in cumulative yields (Table 1). Large fruit (A + B screens) comprised between 92% and 100% of the four-pound sample from all the treatments (Table 1). The spring hedged treatment did have significantly lower percentage of marketable (A+B screen) fruit than the control and fall boxed treatments. 

      — By Becky Wheeler-Dykes (Orchard Researcher, CSU Chico), Dr. Rich Rosecrance (Professor, College of Agriculture, CSU Chico), Luke Milliron (UCCE Farm Advisor Butte, Tehama & Glenn Counties), and Franz Niederholzer (UCCE Farm Advisor, Colusa & Sutter/Yuba Counties)

  • Joe Vargas Joins USHBC and NABC as First-Ever Director of Business Intelligence

    Joe Vargas has been hired as the director of business intelligence for the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) and North American Blueberry Council (NABC). In this newly created role, Vargas is responsible for developing and leading a best-in-class data and insights program for the blueberry industry.

    “We’re thrilled to welcome Joe to the team and can’t wait for him to lend his expertise to providing the blueberry industry with the data insights that are needed today to make smart business decisions,” said USHBC and NABC President Kasey Cronquist. “His experience and strong communications skills make him a perfect fit to develop and lead this part of our program at a critical time for the industry. He’ll help us use data to connect the dots to help us drive even greater demand opportunities for blueberries!”

    Prior to joining the councils, Vargas was the director of marketing, business development and business intelligence for FirstFruits Marketing in Yakima, Washington, and a lecturer at Central Washington University where he taught graduate and undergraduate data analytics courses. He also has experience in sales and management for firms including Copiers Northwest, Ecolab and MDC Promotions.

    He holds a master’s degree in information technology, with a focus on data structures and analytics, from Central Washington University, and a bachelor’s in economics, also from Central Washington.

    In his new role, Vargas will collect, analyze and communicate data that helps growers and industry experts make effective business decisions. He’ll also lead the USHBC and NABC Data and Insights Program, and will be responsible for building a production, inventory and historical price reporting program.

    “I’m thrilled to be joining USHBC and NABC in this critical new role for the industry,” Vargas said. “We live in an information age – data can be useful, but it’s even more valuable when combined with intelligence, research, context and professional judgment, and that’s where I’ll focus.”

  • North American Raspberry & Blackberry Conference Goes Virtual

    The North American Raspberry & Blackberry Association (NARBA) has reached the decision that its annual conference in February 2022, will move to a virtual conference format due to the ongoing disruption of the Covid 19 pandemic.

    The conference was previously formatted as a hybrid meeting, both in-person in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and virtual. All sessions will now be live-streamed for virtual participation and will be available to registrants for on-demand viewing for an extended period post-conference.

    “Last year’s virtual conference gave us the ability to share all the information of our conference with people all over the country and all over the world,” comments NARBA president Jim Jedele. “We are pleased to build on that experience for this meeting.”

    A pre-conference virtual short course for novice growers, “Getting Started in Raspberries & Blackberries”, runs bi-weekly January 31 – February 21st. This course will be led by some of the leading caneberry educators from around the country.  Sign up today and catch up on the recorded sessions!

    Conference sessions feature top experts and experienced growers. Topics include caneberry breeding, pest and disease control, high tunnel and long-cane production, food safety and farm management, ag and labor policy, and marketing.  Over 50 speakers from around the world are included in the two-track format. The virtual format includes opportunities for live Q&A and online networking.

    To see a detailed program for the virtual conference, view a full list of speakers and find event registration information, please visit www.raspberryblackberry.com/2022-north-american-raspberry-blackberry-conference/

    The North American Raspberry & Blackberry Association is a membership association of growers large and small, researchers, suppliers, and others in the caneberry industry.

    For further information and updates about the 2022 NARBA annual conference please contact Darcy Kochis at darcy@foodfirstmarketing.com.

  • New Research Findings: The Heart Loves Blueberries

    A new study published in Clinical Nutrition and supported by the US Highbush Blueberry Council (USHBC) found that the equivalent of one cup of fresh blueberries, consumed as 26 g of freeze-dried blueberries, may reduce the acute cardiometabolic burden of energy-dense meals. Or, simply put: The new research further supports that blueberries may benefit heart health.

    As part of USHBC’s programming engaging health professionals, the study findings will be leveraged to promote blueberries as part of a healthy diet, continuing to boost  blueberries’ health halo to drive demand.

    “This is the first study of its kind conducted in an at-risk population, adults with metabolic syndrome, a condition affecting nearly 40% of Americans and one in four adults in the UK,” said Aedin Cassidy, Ph.D., chair of nutrition and preventive medicine, and director of the Interdisciplinary Research Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University, Belfast, and the study’s lead investigator.

    Learn more about the study here. For more information on how USHBC is working with health professionals, and to access resources to leverage with your own health influencers or audiences, visit healthprofessionals.blueberry.org.