February 2019 - 30

UGA-bred blueberry plants grow across the globe
By Sharon Dowdy
University of Georgia
A tried and true Georgia " boy, "
University of Georgia (UGA) blueberry
breeder Scott NeSmith takes pride
in creating new blueberry varieties
for farmers in Georgia and across
the Southeast. Now he can boast that
blueberry varieties he's bred through
the UGA College of Agricultural and
Environmental Sciences have gone global.
Two southern highbush blueberry
varieties bred by NeSmith in research
plots on the UGA Griffin campus are
grown in territories in Europe and several
countries in Africa, including Namibia
and Zimbabwe, he said.
These UGA-bred blueberry plants grow
well in the Southeastern United States and
will now be grown by African farmers
" primarily for export to Europe and some
parts of Asia, " said NeSmith, who was
named UGA Inventor of the Year in 2013.
Partnerships like this one benefit
consumers by extending the amount of
time fresh blueberries are available on
supermarket shelves.
" Berries grown in Africa won't be
competing directly with Georgia berries
as they are producing berries from
September until February and we harvest
our berries April through June, " he said.
Marketing the UGA plant material
to farmers outside the United States
UGA-bred blueberries feed the Georgia market during the blueberry growing season and when they are licensed to be grown in other
countries they provide berries to Georgians and others (locations indicated with blue dots) in November, December and January. Photos:
University of Georgia
also brings valuable revenue back into
NeSmith's research program. This is done
through the UGA Research Foundation,
which assists the transition of UGA
inventions into the marketplace. The
UGA Office of Research created its
Innovation Gateway to streamline the
licensing and startup of UGA inventions.
Thus far, more than 675 products have
been introduced into the marketplace
and more than 160 companies have
been launched based on UGA research
through Innovation Gateway.
" Regardless of where they are growing,
UGA-bred blueberries feed the Georgia
market during our season and, when
they are licensed to be grown on in South
America, we can have blueberries to eat in
November, December and January, " said
Brent Marable, associate director of plant
licensing in UGA's Innovation Gateway.
" Consumers benefit and the royalties
from those blueberries go back in to the
university to fund more research into
breeding the next blueberries. "
In addition to Europe and Africa,
Marable said UGA-bred blueberries have
been grown in Australia, New Zealand,
Japan and South America for more than a
decade and will soon be grown in China.
" The beauty is that when we license
blueberries in China or Japan or even
in south Africa and Europe, we aren't
competing with Georgia growers, " he said.
" We are feeding the global demand for
blueberries with berries that don't compete
with the berries grown by Georgia farmers.
South American (growers in) Chile, Peru,
Argentina and Colombia ship berries into
the U.S. when we can't get berries from our
Georgia growers. "
Since becoming head of the UGA
blueberry-breeding program in 1998,
NeSmith has released and patented 16
new commercial blueberry varieties and
five ornamental blueberry varieties. These
include several southern highbush varieties
such as Georgia Dawn, Rebel and Suziblue,
as well as Alapaha and Ochlockonee,
rabbiteye blueberry varieties named after
south Georgia rivers.
NeSmith says his work fulfills UGA's
mission while strengthening and
expanding global demand for blueberries.
" The university mission is to reach the
world, so we are definitely fulfilling the
mission, " he said. " I like to think that if
someone buys a Georgia-bred blueberry
variety in December, they might search for
it again when it's ripe in May. "
For more about UGA blueberry
research, go to http://extension.uga.edu/
topic-areas/fruit-vegetable-ornamentalsproduction/blueberries.
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Scott NeSmith, right, visits with growers in Peru to examine blueberry varieties currently
being grown there and to establish test sites for UGA blueberry germplasm.

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February 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2019