Overall blackberry production in Oregon was down about 10 million pounds in 2014 due to a harsh winter freeze, but Marion berry was hit the hardest. Most of the Marion acreage consists of older plantings which are more susceptible to extreme weather. Acreage as a whole has only increased slightly over the past 3 years, but most new plantings fall into the “other” or “Marion Type” category. These new varieties are proving to provide much better yield per acre than the Marion, and also hold up better under adverse weather conditions. Farmers are seeing 1-2 ton increases per acre with these newer varietals. Due to the increases in yield along a mild winter so far, we could see a bumper crop in the summer of 2015.
