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Congressman xxxx
Dear Sir:
The current proposed budget for the Agricultural Research Service for FY 2007 eliminates funding for the entire small fruit program at Beltsville, MD. This lab is a valuable resource and if the research and breeding of strawberries, blueberries, and brambles ceases at this facility it will severely impact the U.S. berry industry — affecting producers, nurseries, and ultimately the consumer.
Research focusing on the nutrient composition of berry fruits and the specific roles of nutrients found in berry fruit in healthful living have become a focus of the laboratory in recent years. This program enjoys extensive collaborations in the biomedical community and has recently demonstrated a protective effect of blueberries against a form of cancer in laboratory and animal studies.
The public, now more than ever, desires the availability of fresh berry fruit, year-round, because of recent findings proving berries to be among the most nutrient-dense and health promoting foods.
Meeting the needs of the consumers and the berry producers demands an appropriate research facility. If the Beltsville Fruit Laboratory is closed, the berry industry in the U.S. will lose its most essential technological asset: mission-driven and focused research on berry fruits. The void left by closing this program cannot be filled by other existing programs. The industry will not survive in the long or even medium term without continuous support from vigorous and focused research programs.
Nearly all of the strawberry breeding programs in the U.S. can trace their origins, both in management and germplasm to the Beltsville Fruit Laboratory. The Beltsville strawberry breeding program is the oldest continuously running crop breeding program and the oldest continuously running strawberry breeding program in the country.
The Fruit Laboratory has recently released the first strawberry germplasm with resistance to bacterial angular leaf spot, a disease that is of great importance in the Midwest, Canada, and California, with potential in all strawberry producing systems. The germplasm has been incorporated into commercial varieties by Driscoll’s Berry Company.
Breeding programs emphasizing cultivar and germplasm development of blueberries, strawberries and brambles adapted to the eastern U.S. have developed varieties that have high levels of disease resistance, flavor, and horticultural characteristics that make them ideal for the industry.
‘Blakemore’ strawberry (1929) helped develop the shipped strawberry industry.
‘Surecrop’ strawberry (1956) helped save the strawberry industry from red stele.
‘Earliglow’ strawberry (1975) is the world’s gold standard for flavor.
The first thornless blackberry cultivars came from Beltsville in 1966 and ‘Chester Thornless’ blackberry (1985) is currently grown on 85% of the eastern U.S. blackberry acres.
Advanced molecular genetic technologies are being used to accelerate the applied breeding programs including marker-assisted selection for traits of horticultural value such as disease resistance, winter and spring frost tolerance, and repeat blooming; genome wide mapping and sequencing of blueberry, strawberry, blackberry, and raspberry transformation and regeneration technologies. Molecular markers from the mapping research have been used by public and private sector researchers in several countries for cultivar identification and genetic mapping.
Research programs focusing on important diseases of strawberries, blueberries, and cranberries have always been a focus of the research program. Emphasis is on the identification of resistant germplasm for the production of finished varieties that can be profitably produced with a minimum of pesticides — a benefit to farm workers, the consumer, and the environment.
Physiological and molecular research on the basis of cold tolerance and winter hardiness are a focus of blueberry research with the goal of increasing the range and yield of highbush blueberry cultivars.
Physiological and molecular research on the basis of high temperature stress is another focus of the strawberry research. If researchers can identify the role that temperature plays in reducing fruit set during the summer months, it will complement a long-term goal of the breeding program to expand the harvest season for the eastern strawberry industry to include a major portion of the year by developing repeat blooming cultivars.
We strongly encourage you to restore funding for the small fruit program at Beltsville, MD.
Sincerely,
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