U.S. flagAn official website of the United States government
                    Here's how you know **Official websites use .gov**
                            
                            A **.gov** website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
 **Secure .gov websites use HTTPS**
                            
                            A **lock** (                            
                              A locked padlock                                                      
                            
                            ) or **https://** means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


Menu Agricultural Research Service
						
                    U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
 close



Research
                Research Home
                            National Programs
                            Research Projects
                            Scientific Manuscripts
                            International Engagement
                            Scientific Software/Models
                            Databases and Datasets
                            Office of Scientific Quality Review
            Media
                News & Features
                            Multimedia
                            Briefing Room
                            Down on the Farm
                            Press Room
                            Science in Your Shopping Cart
                            Scientific Discoveries
                            Tellus
                            Under the Microscope
            About ARS
                About ARS Home
                            Staff Directory
                            Labs and Research Centers (Map)
                            Headquarter Offices
                            Organizational Chart
                            Employee Services (REE Employees Only)
                            Office of Outreach, Diversity, and Equal Opportunity
            Work With Us
                Work With Us Home
                            ARS Vacancies at USAJOBS
                            Careers at ARS Information
                            Scientific Collaborations
                            Extramural Agreements
                            1890 Faculty Research Sabbatical ProgramSearch small
                    Search
            
            ARS Home
                                About ARS
                                Contact Us




ARS Home News & Events News Articles Research News 2016





- ARS@Work
- Blog
- Down on the Farm
- Image Gallery
- News Archive
- Podcasts
- Press Room
- Science in Your Shopping Cart
- Scientific Discoveries
- Tellus
- Under the Microscope
- YouTube Channel

Read the magazine story to find out more.Columbia Giant, a new blackberry cultivar developed and released by ARS. Click the image for more information about it.For further reading
New Berries from ARS
"Pink Lemonade," "Razz," "Sweetheart," and "Cara's Choice": Superb Blueberries from ARS
Scientists Find Aphid Resistance in Black Raspberry Two New Berries for You from ARS By Sharon Durham September 28, 2016 Agricultural Research Service (ARS) geneticist Chad Finn and his colleagues at the Horticultural Crops Research Unit in Corvallis, Oregon, developed two new berry varieties—a blueberry and a blackberry—and recently released them to the public. Baby Blues, a blueberry cultivar, is a vigorous, high-yielding, small-fruited, machine-harvestable highbush blueberry with outstanding fruit quality. It is well suited for processing markets that require a small fruit size. Baby Blues should offer growers and processors an alternative to the low-yielding Rubel highbush blueberry, and it should thrive in milder areas where northern highbush blueberries are grown, according to Finn. Baby Blues made its debut during the 100th anniversary of the first cultivated blueberry crop to go to market. This new blueberry was released in cooperation with the Oregon State University's Agricultural Experiment Station and the Washington State University's Agricultural Research Center. Up until the early 1900s, blueberries were picked from the wild, and the bushes often did not survive when transplanted. True domestication was beyond reach until 1910. That was when U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) botanist Frederick Coville discovered that blueberry bushes require moist, acidic soil to thrive. In 1916, exactly a century ago, the first commercially cultivated crop of highbush blueberries was harvested. Finn also developed a new blackberry named Columbia Giant. This thornless, trailing blackberry cultivar is a high-quality, high-yielding, machine-harvestable blackberry with firm, sweet fruit. The fruit quality is similar to or better than that of the industry standards Marion and Black Diamond. Due to its extremely large size, Columbia Giant will mostly be sold in the fresh market. It also is adaptable to areas where other trailing blackberries thrive. Columbia Giant came from the same breeding program as Baby Blues and was also released in cooperation with the Oregon State University's Agricultural Experiment Station. Read more about this research in the September 2016 issue of *AgResearch*. ARS is USDA's chief in-house scientific research agency.


Return to top


Research
                            Media
                            About ARS
                            Work With Us


Connect with ARS Sign up


ARS Home
                            USDA.gov
                            Plain Writing
                            Policies & Links
                            Civil Rights Statements
                            FOIA
                            Accessibility Statement
                            Privacy Policy
                            Non-Discrimination Statement
                            Quality of Information
                            USA.gov
                            WhiteHouse.gov