Posts Tagged ‘Dr. Dan Barney’

SANDPOINT — The University of Idaho’s Research and Extension Center here will be mothballed, according to staffers.

Dr. Dan Barney, known for his huckleberry research at the facility on Boyer Avenue, said he was told that the station where he has spent 22 years, will be shuttered as of June 30 in the face of university budget shortfalls.

“I was notified last Friday,” he said. “Our job here is to completely decommission the station and get it into some type of long-term storage situation.”

Read the rest of the story ….

Five pints at a time

Daily Inter Lake – Kalispell,MT,USA
The shop, which has been a fixture on Electric Avenue in Bigfork for 30 years, is inside a quaint house featuring huckleberry decorations on the front porch …

American Indian Food: Huckleberries

Plants were important to the Plateau tribes. They gathered over 130 different plants. Two of the most important food plants for the tribes of this area were huckleberries and camas…

Deep fried bull testicles? Chew on this

PerthNow – Perth,WA,Australia
Most Australians are familiar with the name Huckleberry thanks to Mark Twain’s classic … Huckleberries are harvested by hand and used in pies, milkshakes, …

A North Idaho Agricultural Research Center Faces Closure

KUOW NPR – Seattle,WA,USA
Way up in the Idaho Panhandle, Danny Barney has been discovered — by huckleberry lovers, anyway. Barney is a horticulture professor and head of the …

Article also includes a quote from Malcolm Dell who is one of the founders of this organization and website.

R&E center’s fate in community’s hands Bonner County Daily Bee – Sandpoint,ID,USA He also works extensively with berries (including developing domestic huckleberries) and also with fruit crops. It also is possible that Barney would

Larry Lyons: Solving the great huckleberry mystery
Niles Daily Star – Niles,MI,USA
In last week’s column I mentioned attending a Potawatomi Indian Pow Wow commemorating the end of the huckleberry harvest season. Boy, did that open up a can …

I finished harvesting the breeder plants and evaluated a few thousand more seedlings. Three of the selections continued to be outstanding and another very good. If possible, I want to release these by 2012 or sooner. A few selections had only limited numbers of fruit, but quite large. They’ll serve as parents for more crosses. I’ve attached some photos.

Reports are that berry crops are heavy and fruit size is good at lower elevations. Priest Lake sounds especially productive. I expect the size and yields to drop at higher elevations unless we receive some moisture and cooler weather.

Best wishes,

Danny L. Barney, Ph.D.
Professor of Horticulture
Superintendent
University of Idaho
Sandpoint Research & Extension Center
1904 North Boyer Avenue
Sandpoint, ID 83864
Phone: 208-263-2323
Fax: 208-263-4470
Email: dbarney@uidaho.edu
Website: http://www.ag.uidaho.edu/sandpoint/index.htm

In case you have missed it, there has been a very interesting discussion going on about the use of huckleberry rakes.  Historically, opinions on this issue are strong on both sides and  the discussions here are no different!  Click on the following links to read the posts and/or to post comments of your own!

Original post by Katie:

From katie g on New Huckleberry Rakes In Stock!

Raping the huckleberry plant with a “Huckleberry Rake” should be illegal as these plants are difficult enough to find and …

Response post by “Mr. Huckleberry”:

From Mr. Huckleberry on New Huckleberry Rakes In Stock!

Greetings, Katie, I appreciate your passion for the huckleberry resource! However, if you had ever seen a huckleberry rake used, you would …

After reading the discussions, what are your thoughts?

Contacts: John Hammel, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences dean, (208) 885-7694, calsdean@uidaho.edu; Bill Loftus, CALS science writer, (208) 885-7694, bloftus@uidaho.edu

College Considers Planning Process

For Closure of Research and Extension Centers

Written by Bill Loftus

MOSCOW – The University of Idaho College of Agricultural and Life Sciences will involve faculty, staff and stakeholder groups around the state in its planning for the proposed closures of research and extension centers.

The college and University of Idaho Extension operate 12 research and extension centers throughout the state, and another based on the Moscow campus that oversees nearby facilities.

College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Dean John Hammel outlined the proposal during a recent presentation to the Idaho Legislature’s Joint Finance – Appropriations Committee.

Hammel said the college plans to form a planning committee with broad membership from internal and external groups interested in the research and extension centers to help the college’s leadership assess the options.

The college will await legislative action on the state’s agricultural research and extension appropriation, which is not expected until late March, before the college finalizes its plan.

Hammel said the college’s leaders reviewed all available options before arriving at the proposal. The controlling factor was the agricultural research and extension budget is mostly dedicated to salaries. Only $3.3 million in operating funding is available to fund maintenance, program support, capital outlay and travel.

“We have little flexibility in our operating budget and we must not continue to markedly erode these resources,” Hammel said. “Doing so will severely limit our capability to adequately support our existing research and extension programs, many of which are already underfunded, and to address future priorities driven by the changing landscape of Idaho agriculture, communities and our clientele.”

The closure of two or more centers is the college’s proposed response to expected cuts totaling 7 percent or $1.94 million in the college’s agricultural research and extension appropriation from the state for fiscal 2010, which begins July 1.

In addition to the center closures to save approximately $1 million, Hammel said the college planned to eliminate 15 vacant faculty and staff positions to save $800,000 and cut travel budgets by 25 percent.

In a memo last week to the college’s faculty and staff, Hammel said no centers have been chosen for closure and the process to determine which centers would close under the plan has not begun.

Hammel said he will seek recommendations from those within the college and university and those who rely on the centers to keep Idaho agriculture healthy and competitive.

“We must stress that no centers and programs are currently targeted and that we have not yet initiated the review process,” Hammel said.

Some of the criteria that will be used to evaluate the centers will include:

*Current and future relevance

*Impact on industry and the specific industry sector affected by closure *Program priorities across Idaho *Potential partnerships or collaborations to meet need.

The list of criteria is not final, nor are the exact parameters that will govern the decisions, Hammel said, adding, “We will communicate the finalized review process and the criteria by which these actions will be determined.

About the University of Idaho

Founded in 1889, the University of Idaho is the state’s flagship higher-education institution and its principal graduate education and research university, bringing insight and innovation to the state, the nation and the world. University researchers attract nearly $100 million in research grants and contracts each year; the University of Idaho is the only institution in the state to earn the prestigious Carnegie Foundation ranking for high research activity. The university’s student population includes first-generation college students and ethnically diverse scholars. Offering more than 150 degree options in 10 colleges, the university combines the strengths of a large university with the intimacy of small learning communities. For information, visit www.uidaho.edu

Bill Loftus, Science writer

Educational Communications

College of Agricultural and Life Sciences University of Idaho

W: (208) 885-7694, C: (208) 301-3566, F: (208) 885-9046

Ag Science 18, Sixth and Rayburn P.O. Box 442332, Moscow, ID 83844

January 20, 2009

I’m still here. Officially, I leave on 1 April. When I actually can get into the Sawtooth depends on the snow levels. Between now and April 1, I will also be taking 10 days off for annual leave. It’s either use it or lose it and I can use the time to get ready for my trip.

As for the interviews, probably sooner than later would be best and Fridays are tentative.

Thanks for the invitation; I can join the wild huckleberry group any time, just let me know what I need to do.

As for what is up, you may have heard that the UI and all other state universities and agencies are faced with major cuts. We have already had a 13% budget cut in operations and are facing more. Hopefully, we’ll survive. I have quite a few plants started for spring 2010 distribution to cooperators. I was able to do a rather thorough job of evaluating
fruit last summer and a few selections appear to be superior, in terms of fruit size and yields.

I am preparing a grant proposal to establish huckleberries, bilberries, and beargrass onto private forest ground near Sandpoint. This would be a great site for workshops as it has a nice building that is being remodeled for educational programs. I’ll be using what we already know and what I learn this year to base the trials on. The idea is to refine our management strategies for wild huckleberries and bilberries, with an eye to sustainable commercial harvests.

I also have been developing a plan for an organic and sustainable research & Extension Center near our existing farm. The budget crisis has put crimps into that, but I am hoping to get some outside grants that will cover the cost of developing the new farm. Organically-grown huckleberries and bilberries will be one of the main research projects.

Hope all is well for you.

February 5, 2009

Last week, the University of Idaho College of Agricultural & Life Sciences announced that at least 2 of the 13 Research & Extension Centers statewide will be closed due to expected state budget cuts. I’ve attached the official press release.

Because Sandpoint is one of the two smallest stations, we are a likely candidate for closure. At this time, the College does not plan to fire tenured faculty. Those affected, however, may have to relocate to Moscow or one of the other centers. How this will affect our huckleberry research, I do not know. I do know that the soils, climate, and location at Sandpoint make it an ideal place to study wild and domestic huckleberries. At present, we have plants in our nursery that should be ready for shipping in the spring of 2010 to cooperators. For those stations that are closed, we do not know yet how quickly they will be closed following the final decisions, which should come in mid May 2009.

I am requesting that my sabbatical leave to study wild huckleberries and bilberries be postponed for one year. I was supposed to be on leave in the berry fields of Washington from April-September 2009. I’ll need to be here to assist in the evaluation and selection process, act as a contact point for clientele and the public, and close the station, should that be necessary.

If you believe that this information would be of interest to the International Wild Huckleberry Association, I encourage you to pass this message along to the members. Decisions on which stations will be closed will partly depend on stakeholder input. If the members believe that our work has benefitted them and the industry, I would appreciate their
making that known to Dean Hammel and participating in the stakeholder process.

Thanks for the support you have provided over the years.

April 21, 2009

The blue ribbon panel convened to decide which R&E Centers will be closed met last weekend. Now it’s in the Dean’s court to make the final decisions. We should know by May 15 of this year. Lots of things could happen, one or two of them even good.

For now, I am working feverishly to establish new selections in vitro and back up all plants with multiple copies. I also started the breeding for 2009 today, planning on 31 crosses this year. I have many F1 seedlings from 2005-2006 crosses. Those seedlings are one year old and in the greenhouse. I want back up seed for all of the crosses between our best selections, just in case we have to move or shut down the UI program. I believe the last possibility is remote, but I’m not taking any chances. I’ll also be making more seed collection trips this summer to fill in gaps and replace aging seed from our first collections from sources that have proven good. We have about 4,000 seedlings from
2004-2006 crosses and open pollinated seedlings from wild collections in the greenhouse. More are in the bark beds and we have plants ready to go for a fall 2009 or spring 2010 distribution to growers.

I have tentative plans to offer two workshops at Sandpoint this summer, about the second or third week of July. The first workshop will be huckleberry cultivation for home gardeners. The second will be cultivation for commercial production. Until we know for sure what is going to happen here, the plans are tentative.

Depending on where or if I will be working for UI, the prospects are excellent for a large grant to study introduction of huckleberries, bilberries, and beargrass into forest areas where those plants are no longer found. It will be a great opportunity to test our model management systems for wild huckleberries. If things are a go, funding could start as early as this summer.

May 21, 2009

I am buried in research right now trying to preserve our most important germplasm and selections in case my station is closed. Although the controlled pollinations are done for the year, we are just starting tissue culture and cutting propagation, and will move from that into harvesting breeder trials and replacing old seed collections in the core germplasm collection.

Best wishes,

Danny L. Barney, Ph.D.
Professor of Horticulture
Superintendent
University of Idaho
Sandpoint Research & Extension Center
1904 North Boyer Avenue
Sandpoint, ID 83864
Phone: 208-263-2323
Fax: 208-263-4470
Email: dbarney@uidaho.edu
Website: http://www.ag.uidaho.edu/sandpoint/index.htm

February 14, 2008

(In response to an information request from Europe)

I suggest you visit my website at www.ag.uidaho.edu/sandpoint. We have a great deal of information on the different huckleberry and bilberry species, including how to grow them.

The names huckleberry, bilberry, whortleberry, and blueberry are interchangeable and it is not unusual for a single plant to be called all of these names. There are also many different plants in at least two families and three genera that are called huckleberries. As far as what is a “true” huckleberry, it is a common name and widely used for many plants.

I work with Vaccinium species that are native to western North America, although some of the species are also found across North America and some in Asia and Europe. With one exception, alpine bilberry, Vaccinium uliginosum, all are found in genus Vaccinium section Myrtillus.

One species I work with is Vaccinium myrtillus. We call it bilberry or dwarf huckleberry in North America. It is best known as bilberry in Europe and is commercially harvested from the wild in Scandinavia and probably elsewhere. Bilberry has a long history of use for medicinal and culinary purposes. This would be by far the easiest huckleberry to obtain in Germany. The fruits are smaller than mountain and Cascade huckleberries native to the eastern U.S., but the flavor is excellent.

Red huckleberry, Vaccinium parvifolium, is first cousin to both bilberry and the large-fruited mountain and Cascade huckleberries. It is also found in section Myrtillus. The fruits are a bright red and tend to be quite tart. Red huckleberry has low anthocyanin and antioxidant concentrations and also lacks the strong flavor components of the Cascade and mountain huckleberries or bilberry. Red huckleberry is harvested commercially from the wild and used primarily, I believe, for pastries.

April 3, 2008

We still have no idea how our huckleberries fared the winter. They are still covered by 19 inches of snow. Nice insulation. I’m especially anxious to see how the bark beds turned out.

My primary focus now is getting the huckleberry cultivars developed, with most other projects on hold. I’ll be starting seed from crosses I did in 2008 and making more crosses early next month. We also have quite a few young plants ready for the greenhouse. On the positive front, I believe I have identified a main problem with tissue culturing some ofour selections. A different iron compound in the medium seems to be largely preventing the poor growth and death we have with many of the selections. I need to run a few more tests, but I think we will be able to turn out many more test plants for cooperators.

I will be in Alaska from June 14-30th and in Oregon July 13-17. In late August and early September, I will be making some trips to Lolo Pass and probably a few other huckleberry sites to collect samples. Most of the summer and fall will be spent getting ready for my sabbatical next summer.

Hope all is going well

March 4, 2008

Winter has not been too bad, just more than average snow and it hasstayed for a very long time. We still have about 24 inches on the level at our farm. Good for the plants. We had plenty of snow cover for insulation.

The new UI campus at Sandpoint is still on hold. The Wild rose Foundation put everything on hold when Coldwater Creek share prices dropped from $25 to $8. The prices are now down to $5.40 and I don’t see a turnaround soon.

Mr. Pence did donate 18 acres of land for a new experimental farm. About 8 acres are tillable and another couple suitable for container yards and the like. I still have to meet with the dean and director to find out what they want me to do and what I have to work with.

I’m propagating test plants as rapidly as I can and refining our in vitro techniques to establish the remaining selections. I am also starting seed from our past breeding trials. I was waiting for a new greenhouse, but that does not appear to be coming soon.

I just gave two talks on huckleberries at the pacific Agriculture Show in Abbotsford, Canada. There is some interest in producing bilberries and huckleberries in B.C.

July 18, 2008

My huckleberry crop at Sandpoint was very good, perhaps a couple of weeks late. Most cultivated crops are running two to three weeks later than usual throughout the region due to a long, cold spring.

The Priest Lake crop at about 2,600 feet looked average to above average in early June. I have not been back to see the ripe fruit, but probably will be next Thursday or Friday. I’ve been gone most of the past month to Alaska and Oregon.

I expect to have a good lower elevation crop early. Fruit size should be average to above average. The higher elevation crop is likely to be problematic due to little rain and high temperatures. I would rather expect a sporadic crop, with reasonably good yields on cooler, moister sites and few or small berries on drier sites.

I just returned from the International Vaccinium conference. Lots of good information that applies to huckleberries and bilberries. We should be able to greatly refine our nursery production of planting stock. Also, researchers in Norway, Finland, and Ukraine are working to domesticate bilberry (V. myrtillus) but are not as far along as we are. We are sharing information and, hopefully, germplasm. Their germplasm resources are incredible and we can offer help in propagation and production methodologies. All of us should profit from the exchange.

Breeding went well for mountain huckleberry this spring and terribly for oval-leaved bilberry. Practically no fruit set on the latter. We have made more selections of V. myrtillus and planted out F1 seed for many crosses in 2006. One of the V. myrtillus plants has very large berries. Baby crops can be deceiving, but it looks promising and is very late, as well. The raised bed and bark bed trials are doing exceptionally well and bore fruit this year.

We have the land for the new farm, so it looks like we are going to be in business for a long while. The site is a mess, however, and will take a few years to clean up and get into production. We expect to begin fruit plantings there in 2010 and 2011. I will be distributing planting stock in 2010 to cooperators.

July 30, 2008

I’ve managed to get into the high country a bit and the crops in northern Idaho look good so far. Fruit set was very good at all elevations I have been at and across a fairly wide area. I finished picking my crop at the Sandpoint R&E Center (2,000 feet elevation) on July 11. I noted pickers in the 3,000 foot elevation range last week and berries seem to be both abundant and quite large at that elevation. Higher up, the berries are still green but set abundantly and seem to be sizing up well.

We’re getting a little more moisture than last year, but it is still very dry and higher elevation berries are likely to be rather smaller than those lower down that are already ripe.

We’ve made more bilberry selections this year (V. myrtillus) and the market demand worldwide is very strong. I just returned from the International Vaccinium Conference where I met with researchers from Finland, Norway, and the Ukraine who are also working to manage or domesticate bilberry. We are sharing information and prospects for the industry appear excellent. Demand is especially great in Europe for the bilberry, but niche markets in the U.S. and Canada could easily be expanded with a little creative marketing.

We have had great success with growing huckleberries and bilberries in raised beds and bark beds under hybrid poplar. I’ll update our website and get information for the Western Huckleberry and Bilberry Association website early this fall.

Please feel free to contact me with questions and success stories.

November 5, 2008

Starting a new industry and fruit breeding can be slow and frustrating. At least we are making good progress on improved varieties and growing practices, as well as forest stand management. I should have a great deal of new information after next year’s sabbatical leave project in the Sawtooth. We are also propagating planting stock for a 2010 distribution.

I appreciate the support and should be able to link your new site to my existing huckleberry pages. Please let me know how you would like to proceed.

Thanks and good luck.

September 7, 2008

Right now I am tied up with a number of projects, including propagating huckleberries and getting ready for sabbatical. I’m also developing agrant for huckleberry studies establishing and managing berries in forest stands. Should be a perfect case study for your site.

Best wishes,

Danny L. Barney, Ph.D.
Professor of Horticulture
Superintendent
University of Idaho
Sandpoint Research & Extension Center
1904 North Boyer Avenue
Sandpoint, ID 83864
Phone: 208-263-2323
Fax: 208-263-4470
Email: dbarney@uidaho.edu
Website: http://www.ag.uidaho.edu/sandpoint/index.htm

March 5, 2007

I have been asked by the Forest Service to give a presentation at the Mt. Adams Ranger District on March 12. They are planning a large restoration project in the Sawtooth Berry Fields to enhance huckleberry colonies. The Forest Service has also agreed to let me spend a six month sabbatical in Washington and Oregon National Forests studying huckleberry and bilberry responses to environmental factors. I still need to get University approval for the project.

My schedule for March and April is still in flux. I expect to be called as a witness in a hearing and possible trial, but am not yet sure of the dates. When I know, I’ll schedule visits with cooperators.

March 7, 2007

The use of rakes to harvest huckleberries has long been a highly emotional one. During the early 1900s when there existed a large commercial huckleberry industry in the Northwest, many pickers used rakes or other devices. This is well-documented in “A Social History of Wild Huckleberry Harvesting in the Pacific Northwest – General Technical Report PNW-GTR-657, 2006, USDA-Forest Service by Rebecca Richards and Susan Alexander. If the rakes damaged the bushes and berry yields, the pickers would not have been able to return year-after-year to the same sites.

I have harvested all nine species of western huckleberries and bilberries by hand and with rakes. Used properly, rakes cause little or no damage to the bushes. Our western huckleberry and bilberry species bear fruit on shoots that form that same season. In other words, when you are harvesting berries, the wood that will bear next year’s crop does not exist yet. To damage next year’s crop, you would have to either break off fairly large shoots or damage the lateral buds along those shoots. I have not observed either type of damage when using rakes to harvest huckleberries or bilberries native to the northwestern United States.

Rakes do not work well for some species due to small berry size, twig conformation, or the way the fruit borne on the branches. For other species, rakes can be used to quickly harvest fruits without damaging the plants.

If a harvester is breaking off twigs and leaves with a rake, then the rake is not being used properly and the harvester is going to spend a lot of time picking few berries and much more time than necessary cleaning them. In other words, they are not going to be making any money and are not likely to persist with the rake.

I, personally, do not support the sections of the legislation banning mechanical harvesting devices.

As for the U.S. Forest Service banning such devices, The only National Forest, to my knowledge, that does so is the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in south-central Washington.

I am far more concerned with the practice of cutting or breaking the branches off and harvesting the berries from the detached branches. This practice can severely damage the plants.

Likewise, I have seen formerly productive colonies damaged by people digging up the plants, apparently with the idea of transplanting them in mind. Particularly sad is the fact that, for several native species, most of the transplants will die. Container-grown plants transplant easily. There is no good reason for digging wild huckleberry or bilberry bushes from public land for transplanting.

Please feel free to share this information with others. Again, these are my personal views and do not represent the University of Idaho.

July 12, 2007

Marie and I spend nearly every July 4 week camping on the St. Joe River.

I’ll be in Orofino July  17 and meeting with cooperators from Moscow to Grangeville Monday and Tuesday. The rest of the week is scheduled for vacation camping along the North Fork of the Clearwater. I have actually found huckleberries along the river, but very few and very small.

As for huckleberry crops, all reports I have received so far indicate a poor crop from Northern Idaho to Yellowstone. A few of my selections bore well at Sandpoint, but overall the crop was nearly nonexistent, largely due to pollination problems related to storage and our timing in bringing the plants out.

Berry size in my plants appears to be below average and the berries are going from green to overripe rather quickly. I have also hear reports from around the region that berry numbers and sizes in wild crops are below average and the bears are heading to the low country.

I suspect last summer’s record low precipitation, a dry spring, and two extremely hot summers in a row are taking their toll.

Picking sites I would have recommended ten years ago are well known and are picked out rather quickly. Some harder to reach sites but larger berries and generally good crops are:

Along the east side of Lake Pend Oreille along the High Drive (Forest Road 278) and roads leading off of it. Dirr Point is often a good site.

West side of Priest Lake at 4000 to 6000 feet elevation from Binarch Mountain and other roads north to Granite Pass. Plan on at least a pickup and a four wheel drive is recommended.

Reeder and Distillery Bay areas along the west side of Priest Lake were good, but are heavily targeted today.

Roman Nose area north and west of Sandpoint is usually good. Well known to local pickers but not so accessible.

Trout Peak area just east of Sandpoint can be very good in some years.

July 25, 2007

We’re not sure what the problem is. We did have the state lab examine some samples and they found phytophthora root rot. Not at all uncommon in the area. Whether that is the sole culprit remains to be seen.

I don’t believe this is something we imported and I don’t see it as a risk to wild stands. Our raised beds and bark bed plants are still perfectly healthy. Only the container-grown plants affected. So we go with a scorched earth policy and propagate all new plants. Could have been much worse.

July 26, 2007

Sorry I’ll miss you on the 3rd. Marie and I will be on our way home from the agroforestry conference in Vernon, BC.

The Board of Reagents is supposed to be taking up the issue of the UI North campus in August. We should know within a month if this is a go.

My staff and I and the Bonner County Extension faculty and staff meet with the architect next Tuesday to review the Ag and Life Science building plans.

August 7, 2007

Glad to hear you had a good picking year. Reports were generally poor to sporadic except in moister locations. Higher elevation crops seem to be especially poor. The site we visited last week in the Monashee Mountains of British Columbia had lots of mountain and dwarf huckleberry, as well as grouse whortleberry. The plants were generally healthy, but showed stress from three dry years and few berries.

This industry will take off, it is just going to be a few years more until we get the materials in place. I will probably retire in another ten to twelve years.

If I was any good about making money, I would keep the information proprietary and sell it as a consultant. Comes from being a teacher. I’ll never have to worry about being rich.

September 26, 2007

(In response to an inquiry)

As for the Bay Area of California, the species you are most likely to encounter is the evergreen (aka shot or blackwinter) huckleberry, Vaccinium ovatum. You can find more information on this species on my research page at http://www.ag.uidaho.edu/sandpoint/research.htm

A student exposition of the species appears at http://bss.sfsu.edu/holzman/courses/Fall 2003 20project/vovatum.htm

I have little experience with this species in California. It normally ripens late in the year. I have collected the fruit in coastal Washington during November. The California fruits ripen earlier.

I suggest you contact the Huckleberry Botanic Regional Preserve at http://www.ebparks.org/parks/huckleberry for more information.

Good luck.

October 8, 2007

My colleague at the University of Idaho, Dr. Caleb Nindo, is looking for some huckleberries to conduct research on. Professor Nindo is a food engineer in the Department of Food Science & Toxicology. His assistance in studying huckleberry processing and nutritional characteristics would benefit all of us in the industry.

I presently have no fruit available and we are looking for a source. I am not sure of the quantity he needs,  probably several gallons at this time. Frozen berries are fine.

If you have some berries for sale, would you please contact Dr. Nindo at cnindo@uidaho.edu.

Thanks.

P.S. despite rumors to the contrary, the Sandpoint R&E Center is still in business. Our research farm is moving to a new location nearby and we will have new laboratories and state of the art greenhouses as part of the new University of Idaho campus at Sandpoint. The huckleberry program is continuing and we are propagating plants for cooperators. We had a setback due to a new disease problem and lost our planting stock this summer, but I think we have found a solution. I’ll get more details out soon.

November 9, 2007

We finally have been able to update our website and have greatly expanded the huckleberry and bilberry sections at http://www.ag.uidaho.edu/sandpoint/index.htm.

Please let me know if you find any mistakes or if additional information is needed.

Best wishes,

Danny L. Barney, Ph.D.
Professor of Horticulture
Superintendent
University of Idaho
Sandpoint Research & Extension Center
1904 North Boyer Avenue
Sandpoint, ID 83864
Phone: 208-263-2323
Fax: 208-263-4470
Email: dbarney@uidaho.edu
Website: http://www.ag.uidaho.edu/sandpoint/index.htm

July 17, 2006

There is an incredible demand for bilberries worldwide and our area is in a position to take the lead in producing these crops in managed production. …  As part of Cooperative Extension, I also have an obligation to help citizens throughout the country.

I have thirteen selections I want to send out to our cooperators for testing. I also have a surplus of seedlings that I might be able to make available to our cooperators. My director, however, has asked me to hold off on that temporarily. The University has had some problems lately with varietal releases and we need to make sure all the legal ducks are in a row so that we can get these selections through the pipeline as quickly as possible.

The science is easy. Politics and legalities are hard.

I’ll be in touch later this summer or early fall when we know better what our program will be. If all goes well, I will be able to dramatically increase my interaction with and support for huckleberry and other specialty crop growers starting in November.

August 4, 2006

Reports are that the early crop was very poor across much of the region. We had several frosts during late April through early May that were just cold enough to damage the flowers at lower elevations.

I have not heard about the higher crops yet, but would expect about an average crop. With the heavy snow pack and plenty of spring moisture, the berries that do develop should have a good size.

You’re right about the rapid movement of information today. At least I don’t have to actively aid our competitors.

Some good news here. I made several advanced selections for Cascade huckleberry (V. deliciosum) and bilberry (V. myrtillus) this spring. We now have advanced selections of the most important crops. I also have plants ready to ship to cooperators for testing as soon as I can work out a new non-propagation agreement with UI. We have had some problems with variety releases on other crops lately and my Experiment Station Director has asked me not to distribute materials until we get that worked out.

I’ll keep the group advised as to plant material availability. They should have plants available for spring planting.

October 17, 2006

What is up is hot water and the depth is about chin level.

University of Idaho President, Dr. White, has proposed selling the existing Sandpoint R&E Center property to construct a university learning center/campus and high school campus on the existing site. That appears to be a done deal. According to the Dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, plans are to relocate the R&E Center to a smaller (20 acre) location nearby and construct a new office complex, laboratory, and greenhouse.

When and how that process will take place is still in the concept stage.

The good news is that plans are to rebuild the station with up-to-date laboratory and greenhouse facilities. Also, the existing station is much too large and diverse for my small staff and I to maintain, given our funding. We will be building a smaller, more efficient facility that focuses on huckleberries, bilberries, and ornamental nursery stock.

My appointment is changing the first of November from mostly research to mostly extension. This is being done at my request. A 20% research appointment will allow me to continue the huckleberry and bilberry cultivar development program. The increased extension appointment will allow me to spend much more time with prospective and established members of the industry, on site and in meetings.  I will also have more time to contribute to the website and will be able to take a far more active role in the WHBA.

Research has come along very well. This spring, I obtained seed from 60 crosses in the huckleberry/bilberry breeding program and added 23 advanced and 42 early selections to the group We now have 97 early or advanced selections that appear to have commercial quality or are at least suitable as parents for breeding.

Due to problems involving varietal releases and plant patenting at the University, I was asked not to distribute any plant materials during 2006. I now have permission to distribute selections for testing and will do so beginning early next spring. We have many plants ready to go that are overwintering in our outdoor or indoor storage facilities. Part of my new program will be to provide some planting stock for experimental plantings as part of our selection evaluation process. This should really help our producers. This winter, I hope to iron out the problems in propagating mature, hard to propagate selections. Our preliminary soil work is completed. An optimal production site will have a moist but well-drained loam or sandy loam soil with pH between 4.0 and 5.0. Silt loams are acceptable if adequate drainage can be provided, although amending the soil with sand or organic matter will help with the heavier soils. For all soil types, I recommend planting on raised beds about 12 inches high. Incorporating rot d bark or wood into the planting beds and/or mulching the beds with bark will probably be helpful. Irrigation will be necessary on most field cultivation sites.

Best production will be in full sun on a cool, north-facing slope. On more southerly exposures, light shade, particularly in the afternoon can be helpful. Even on a southerly exposure, full sun is acceptable if adequate soil moisture is available. We have found that liquid fertilizer work much better than granular formulations.

Depending on when the relocation takes place, life could be rather hectic for the next year or two. Fortunately, my department is allowing me some flexibility in developing a new program.

Rather than having one large meeting at a central location this year, I suggest having a series of two to four small meetings throughout the state that we can combine with on-site visits and consultation with individuals and local groups.

As you can see from the French pharmaceutical company’s email, market demand is tremendous. The Alaska Berry Growers are already harvesting and processing oval-leaved bilberries commercially. Bilberry (V. myrtillus) looks very promising for production and marketing and I have some very nice selections ready to test.

The big bottleneck in getting our industry going is getting commercial quality cultivars to the growers, so that will dominate my program. Fortunately, I believe we have selections of Cascade huckleberry, mountain huckleberry, bilberry, and oval-leaved bilberry that meet the requirements, but still need to be tested in different areas. Plants coming out of my breeding program will probably be better, but will take years to evaluate and get through the process. I’m trying to fast track some of the better selections we already have in the pipeline. I have some seedlings of red huckleberry and early selections of dwarf huckleberry and alpine bilberry and will be testing those to see how well they perform for us.

I can’t say I am at all happy to lose my existing station. At least we should be able to rebuild it and make it better focused and easier to manage.

I’ll be presenting some of our results at the Northwest Center for Small Fruit Research the first of December in Kennewick. I obtained funding for the coming year.

Hope to see you early next spring. Feel free to refer people to me and tell the members not to lose heart. We’re getting very close to making this happen.

November 27, 2006

2006 was a very complicated year for us at the Sandpoint R&E Center and we were unable to complete all of the activities that we had planned. I was notified in early June that the R&E Center will be undergoing major changes in programming, location, and facilities. The good news is that we will still be in business. We only found that out on November 16.

Due to legal problems with potato and wheat variety releases involving the University of Idaho, Idaho Research Foundation, and commodity groups, I was asked in late spring not to distribute any planting materials. It was only a couple of weeks ago that the situation was resolved and I obtained permission to do so. By then, all of our planting stock had been placed into winter storage.

I have oval-leaved bilberry and Cascade huckleberry plants available for you for early spring 2007. I will need you to sign a material transfer agreement. Basically it says that you agree not to propagate any of the plant or give them to anyone else.

We now have 97 early or advanced selections that are in our testing program. They cover dwarf huckleberry, Cascade huckleberry, mountain huckleberry, bilberry, oval-leaved bilberry, and alpine bilberry. Most have to be propagated for field trials. Thirteen are scheduled for cooperator testing as soon as I can propagate them. We will be shipping out two selections for testing in the spring and you should receive both of those.

My graduate student completed his program in October and we are in the process of publishing research articles on seed propagation of dwarf huckleberry, Cascade huckleberry, oval-leaved bilberry, and red huckleberry, \as well as in vitro propagation (cloning) of mountain huckleberry, Cascade huckleberry, and oval-leaved bilberry. This winter, I hope to work out the procedures for effectively cloning mature plants. That will greatly speed up the cultivar development and release program.

My appointment has changed from mostly research to mostly extension. I will spend 20% of my time developing cultivated varieties. 45% of my time will be spent working with the fruit and ornamental industries, giving me much more time to visit growers on site and provide training. I am scheduled to be in Kamiah on March 28 for a Master Gardener workshop and will spend at least several days in the area meeting with people interested in huckleberries. That might be a good time to bring down your planting stock.

I will be in touch with our cooperator group after the first of the year to schedule visits and training.

Thanks for the continued interest.

December 8, 2006

Interest in huckleberries is growing rapidly. I have had several queries recently from firms in the U.K. and France looking for huckleberries and bilberries. Requests from brokers and processors inside North America are also frequent.

The huckleberry program here is strong and is taking on new life. Our first test plants for cooperators will be shipped in spring 2007 and I will be traveling around the state visiting members of our group. With a new appointment at the University of Idaho, I will have much more time and opportunity to work with the industry. Please contact me if you would like to set up a visit or have questions or suggestions.

Best wishes,

Danny L. Barney, Ph.D.
Professor of Horticulture
Superintendent
University of Idaho
Sandpoint Research & Extension Center
1904 North Boyer Avenue
Sandpoint, ID 83864
Phone: 208-263-2323
Fax: 208-263-4470
Email: dbarney@uidaho.edu
Website: http://www.ag.uidaho.edu/sandpoint/index.htm