COLUMBUS, Ohio — Growers wanting to cash in on the worries of a health-conscious county may want to think about producing blueberries and raspberries.

“The demand for blueberries and raspberries has exploded in recent years, thanks to consumers who covet the tiny sweet fruits for their many health benefits,” said Gary Gao, an Ohio State University extension specialist and associate professor of small fruit crops at the OSU South Centers in Piketon.

Gao and his associates at OSU have begun a multi-year project studying alternative planting methods to help Ohio growers increase the production of these two small, increasingly popular fruits many health experts call “superfoods.”

“And with the growing consumer demand for more locally grown, healthy foods, farmers who are able to increase their blueberry and raspberry production could see a significant financial gain,” he explained.

Studies from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have shown blueberries have anti-cancer properties and cardiovascular benefits, contain ellagic acid for skin health and vitamin C for eye health, assist in the digestive tract, contain vitamin K to help bones and help prevent diabetes.

FDA studies show health benefits of raspberries include anti-cancer properties, as well. Raspberries also are rich in vitamins B and K, are high in potassium, manganese, copper and iron, help prevent intestinal inflammation and can be helpful to diabetics.

“The project is designed to address an urgent issue of a severe shortage of Ohio-grown blueberries and raspberries, both in total quantity and seasonal availability,” Gao said. “Fresh raspberry consumption is up nearly 300 percent in the U.S. and blueberry crops have expanded worldwide.”

He and his associates are in the middle of a two-year, $55,000 project, which is funded through a USDA specialty crop block grant through the Ohio Department of Agriculture. The grant was awarded last summer and work began late last fall.

The grant will allow Gao and his colleagues to work on increasing the bramble acreage in Ohio by 150 acres in the next 2-5 years, and to improve the yields of bramble plants by 15 percent. The grant also allows work on expanding the seasonal availability of bramble fruits by at least two weeks and educating at least 200 bramble growers through six comprehensive training workshops, and demonstrating the profit potential of season-extension methods.

“The major challenge of growing blueberries in Ohio is that the fruit lacks a large degree of winter hardiness,” Gao said. 

“If the region experiences a mild winter, such as last winter, the plants will come through winter fine and produce a good crop.

“But if the winter is too cold, as are many Ohio winters, the harsh weather can cause severe injuries to blueberry crops.”

The solution to Ohio’s weather-related problem? High tunnels – Gao said the research not only involves testing more hardy varieties, but the use of tunnels to grow blueberries and raspberries.

The high tunnels, he said, can protect the plants from weather, pests and disease. They can also extend the growing season to produce the fruits weeks earlier than traditional plantings.

“There is a lot of excitement with high tunnels,” Gao said. “If you grow raspberries in the field with no protection, you’d probably yield 5,000 to 6,000 raspberries per acre. But if you grow them in high tunnels, you can eventually yield 16,000 to 19,000 per acre, which is a tremendous increase.”

High tunnels, he said, help shield the plants and berries from rain and growers don’t have to use as many fungicide sprays for disease control.

“This strong demand for fresh blueberries and raspberries presents a golden opportunity for existing fruit growers to expand their production acreage, and new growers to get into bramble production as a way to diversity their business,” Gao said. “And we realize growers in Ohio would benefit from a longer season.”