Analyzing the Growing Importance of Blueberry Germplasm

In the February issue of American Fruit Grower, I shared the story of Biloxi blueberry and the genetic diversity efforts of long-retired USDA-ARS blueberry breeder Dr. Arlen Draper. His efforts paid off to create Biloxi and to support an expansion of blueberries in the world. Here I will comment further on genetic diversity and other trends in berry breeding.

In the last 25 years there has been a tremendous shift from a near-exclusive situation of public breeders (universities and USDA-ARS) in the U.S. carrying the berry improvement load to expanded private breeding efforts. Leading the private berry breeding effort are the impressive berry programs of Driscoll’s, beginning many decades ago with their strawberry breeding effort and then expansion to raspberry, blackberry, and blueberry in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s. The array of proprietary varieties from Driscoll’s is amazing and have been the basis for the strong brand recognition for quality that Driscoll has built. Driscoll’s financial investment in breeding the past couple of decades is likely unmatched by any private or public breeding program. As I sometimes comment to people about starting breeding programs: If you want to be like Driscoll’s, get out the checkbook!

With this shift to private breeding, there has been a parallel shift in the availability of new varieties on the open market for growers who are not members of a marketing organization or variety club. I am primarily speaking of local-market growers, which is still a very important sector of berry producers across the U.S.

PRIVATE VS. PUBLIC

Private programs usually are extremely focused only on variety development, as that is where the money is. Getting the variety out quickly is a top priority due to financial gains for profit and to fund continued breeding. Breeding for direct variety development requires using parents that have a near-complete set of advanced traits to combine to get a high-quality product.

Germplasm development, such as I described in my February 2025 American Fruit Grower story about Biloxi blueberry, is not usually undertaken by private programs. It is usually a long, drawn-out process to bring in diversity that has inferior traits compared to current variety standards. But this diversity is what allows for potential new breakthroughs, such as wider adaptation, pest resistance, flavors, and other traits.

IDEAL FOR USDA-ARS

Germplasm development is a lot of work. It is usually slow and challenging and can result in dead ends as far as combining all the traits needed in a product. If one looks back on the diversity for low-chill in blueberries first incorporated in blueberry improvement in the 1950s, one can see it took decades to lead to what we have today in our blueberry variety profile that extends to adaptation to no-chill environments.

This is an area that I think we need to keep an eye on. Our public breeding programs continue to develop commercial varieties. But by nature, they are also suited for germplasm diversity development as well as new genetic investigations in molecular research. I can think of no agency as well suited for this as the USDA-ARS.

In recent years and months, we have observed reductions in programs in public berry breeding. Some might say that it is best to let the private sector do the breeding if it is really worth the effort, and the public programs ought to just get out of the way. I know several young breeders, particularly in the USDA-ARS, that question if their path of employment is best. Public breeders, like any other employee, need to be supported, encouraged, and paid on time if we are to expect the best from them.

PAYING IT FORWARD

Further, I believe that germplasm development programs should develop pathways to license germplasm to private programs. This germplasm is not what one would call variety-level material but rather provides parents that contribute genetic diversity that can then be quickly incorporated into commercial products. This licensing activity can then lead to monetary support back to the public program to further support germplasm research. In this system, everyone wins.

We need to keep in mind where our berry varieties first came from: public programs. We also need to keep in mind where private programs attained their initial genetic material: public programs. Lastly, we need to keep in mind who train most of our young breeders: public universities.

GENE EDITING

A final thought relates to gene editing, the tremendous new horizon being manifested in plant breeding, including berries. Some might suggest that gene editing will provide all the needed genetic diversity for improvement of all important traits. Maybe this will come to pass, but likely the traditional paths of genetic diversity will continue to be important for years to come.

Berries are a huge success in the marketplace today due largely to these tremendous public breeding advances, coupled with spectacular private breeding products. Let’s keep in mind how to keep this genetic success going. Let the berry good times roll!