oceans

or lakes.... or large rivers

Oregon blueberries, courtesy of the Oregon Blueberry Commission

[follow the Wikipedia links]

Looking across world regions where berries grow wild or by cultivation on large acreages

brings a distinct conclusion:

berries like to be at low altitude near large bodies of water.

Each of the berries below has been discussed here at the Berry Doctor's Journal.

• Açaí , the antioxidant-enriched palmberry, grows in swamps and riverside pampas of the Amazon River near its estuaries emptying into the Atlantic Ocean.

• Wild and cultivated blueberries are famous in oceanside provinces of Canada -- Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and British Columbia -- and the US states of Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon and Washington, all bordering oceans. Commercial production of rabbiteye blueberries is increasing rapidly in Florida, a low-lying peninsula of the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic.

• Cranberry production is greatest in Massachusetts, New Jersey bordering the Atlantic and among lakeside farms of Wisconsin (altitude = 500-1000 feet) near two of the largest fresh water lakes in the world -- Superior and Michigan. Probably the largest commercial enterprise in the world devoted to a berry is Ocean Spray, the cranberry cooperative.

World range of cranberries. The most productive commercial regions for Ocean Spray are those within the green circle.

Courtesy of Wikipedia.

• The greatest producing area for strawberries are the central valleys of California, elevation under 500 feet.

• Rubus berries -- blackberries, boysenberries and red or black raspberries -- succeed in the cool wet coastal climate of the Pacific Northwest -- Oregon, Washington and British Columbia.

• Consider grapes (wine) and you think of low-altitude lake and river valleys of California,

France, Italy, Germany, Australia, South Africa and Peru.

• In Europe, coastal countries like France, Spain, Italy, Finland, Germany, Poland and Scotland are the great berry producing states.

• The Pacific countries of New Zealand and Chile are emerging berry production regions for the world market.

All the above coastal and valley regions were once beds of ancient seas.

They contain soil that was sediment and are in temperate climates

with plentiful rain or irrigation.

• Seaberry (seabuckthorn) was named (presumably) because it was first discovered wild near the sea -- now we know it can thrive in deserts and prefers lakeside or riverbanks of China, Russia and northern European countries where it is employed to control erosion and desertification.

Seaberry (seabuckthorn, Hippophae rhamnoides L.)

• Consider the subject of our recent 4-part series on the goji (wolfberry).

Many American and Australian marketers of goji would like us to believe goji berries come from the "roof of the world" -- Tibet and the Himalayan Mountains which are mainly arid rocky regions above 10,000 feet altitude. Yes, 10,000 feet!

As reference, alpine skiers know peaks of popular resorts -- Whistler, Kitzbuhel, Zermatt, Vail -- are all less than 10,000 feet altitude.

Look at this picture of the mountain environment of a ski resort in summer and think about whether that is a location for commercial cultivation of berries.... Your answer?

It's impossible for a major berry crop to be growing where rocky soil, frost, snow, cool summer temperatures, and high winds exist year round.

Berries like soils from sediment, plentiful water and moderate temperatures

with sunny warm summers.

• Goji loves the Yellow River valleys of Ningxia (altitude = 3000 feet and lower)

in north-central China where it has been cultivated for more than 600 years.

Goji berries (red, lower left and in the farm below) growing along the banks of the Yellow River in Zhongning County, Ningxia, China

Berries love oceans, lakes, river plains,

sedimental soils and low altitudes.