Blueberry

Blueberries are bred in the Pacific northwest at the USDA-ARS Horticultural Crops Research Unit in Corvallis, Oregon.  It runs breeding programs in blackberry, black raspberry, blueberry, red raspberry, and strawberry.  The program’s goals are to develop cultivars adapted 1st to the Pacific Northwest but ideally worldwide. The primary focus is on machine-harvestable cultivars suited to processing (e.g. frozen, dried, pureed, and juiced).  In addition to cultivar development, the program strives to collect, evaluate and, as appropriate, incorporate wild germplasm into his breeding material.  Finally, the program is involved in several projects that are trying to assess how new, genomic tools might be successfully incorporated into the program through collaborators.