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

Reviewed June 2007.


Overview
Oregon is the predominant source of cultivated blackberry production. According to the USDA, Oregon raised 41 million pounds of blackberries in 2006. The value of fresh and processed blackberries in 2006 was $35 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
Economic Research Service, Briefing Room - Fruits and Tree Nuts.

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

Other Links

• 2001 Kentucky Blackberry Cost and Return Estimates, University of Kentucky - This online blackberry budget provides estimates for all aspects of production, harvest and marketing.
• 2003 Blackberry Marketing Fact Sheet, University of Kentucky - This two-page fact sheet includes breakeven prices for three varieties of Kentucky fresh market blackberries.
• 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 of Fouke, Arkansas, 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 - This family farm located at Judsonia, Arkansas, consists of more than 500 acres of fruits and vegetables. Main crops consist of blackberries and blueberries.
• Hurst’s Berry Farm was established in 1980 in Sheridan, Oregon. The farm itself 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 of Dale, Texas, raises blackberries and tomatoes on 50 acres. The farm 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.
• Oregon Berry Packing Company at Hillsboro, Oregon, is a family-owned business that 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.
• PlantFacts, Ohio State University - This Web site provides a full-text search engine of all extension and academic department information from all land-grant universities in the United States. Additionally, there are significant image and video databases, a FAQ database and a glossary.
• Small Fruit, Tree Fruit and Berry Pathology, Cornell University - This Web site provides links to other berry resources.