6th annual Aronia Berry Contest at UMES. Credit: UMES Ag Communications/Todd Dudek
(Photos by Todd Dudek/UMES Ag Communications)
Princess Anne, Md. — Community members came out to the University of Maryland Research, Extension and Teaching Farm Friday morning to pick dozens of pounds of little heard of superfruit, the aronia berry.
The school has the community compete for cash prizes as they help harvest the berries, a labor-intensive process. The attendees split into teams of four and the teams that collect the most pounds of berries win descending prizes.
Nadine Burton, alternative crop specialist at UMES and event organizer, said that her job focuses on crops not traditionally grown in the area. That includes the aronia berry, with several rows of aronia bushes planted on the farm’s land.
“One of the reasons for that is to create a niche market for small growers to reduce the competition so they will have a stable income,” Burton said.
The specialist explained that when introducing new crops to local farmers, it can be difficult to get them to adopt the crops. She added that deer are highly interested in the aronia berry, which means farmers are less willing to plant it. The UMES farm has tall fences to guard against deer eating the crops.
In previous years, Burton had to harvest the berries by hand. Then six years ago, the idea was formed to have community members assist with the process.
After the contest, attendees learned from experts on the benefits of the fruit, tasted aronia berry ice-cream, and learned how jam is made with the berries.
Burton said the products are given to local producers, including a jam maker and a person trying an aronia berry cider.
Andrew Ristvey, an extension specialist from the University of Maryland College Park, said aronia berries are something he’s passionate about.
“Aronia is one of those model crops where you can bring people in and teach them about agricultural production, horticultural production, and teach them a little bit about the crop itself,” Ristvey said. “It’s relatively easy to grow and its potential as a superfruit with food products, value added products like jams, jellies and such.”
He added that specialty crops like aronia can provide a much higher value for farmers than row crops but require more investment.
The educational aspect of the program was just as important to organizers as the picking contest.
“It doesn’t matter what crop it is, we have to educate our consumer on what it is, how to use it and the benefits, whether it’s economical or health,” Burton said.
She added that the work they do can help community producers and farmers.
“As an education institution, this is what we are supposed to do. Our community depends on us, especially over the extension and the agricultural community. Dependent for information and support. And this program helps a lot of the farmers who are doing the value-added [products]… because we provide them with the [berries] to make their value-added products,” Burton said.
