Gazette Photo/Abbey KeifmanEric Jacobson, subcontractor for Bedford Plastics, and Doug Foster, irrigation system supplier with Trickl-

eez, inspect the blackberry plants that were put in the ground Thursday morning. The 20-acre farm calledBlackberry Bottom will grow five varieties of blackberries which will be ready for harvest from mid-July to lateAugust next year.

Bedford plastics firm plants blackberriesBy Abbey Keifman

Gazette Staff WriterBedford Reinforced Plastics, Inc. has

purchased 20 acres of a farm in BedfordTownship, named it Blackberry Bottomand begun planting blackberries.

The project began in January and theplants were put in the ground onThursday. Around mid-August, the trel-lises will be installed, according toShannon Foor, the business develop-ment manager at Bedford Plastics.

The leap from plastics to berries isn’tas far as it seems.

Foor said Bedford Plastics began sell-ing fiberglass to Trellis Growing System,a company out of Fort Wayne, Indiana.Both companies invested, along with agrower, in an installation blackberryfarm in Ohio. The 10-acre farm was asuccess, and again the two companiesinvested with a grower in Iowa on a 20-acre farm.

“The natural progression went fromselling material to investing with otherpartners to now owning and operatingour own berry block,” Foor said.

The trellis system is a rotating one,which can lie flat and be covered in thewinter to protect the berries. After thelast frost, the trellises str stood up, andall the blossoms, and subsequently theberries, will grow on one side, facingaway from the scorching afternoon sun.The system should also allow for anoverall healthier berry as well asreduced harvest labor.

“The berries will be able to grow in anopen and airy environment withoutbeing exposed to the sun’s harmfulrays,” Foor said. “You’re basically guar-anteed a crop each year.”

With the system desigend by TrellisGrowing System and built with fiberglassthat lasts for over 25 years in the fieldsfrom Bedford Plastics, the berries thatwere being grown at the farms in Ohioand Iowa were bigger and survived thewinters. According to Foor, the blackber-ries should be sweeter and have a longershelf life than most sold in markets.

Most blackberries in the BedfordCounty area are brought up from thesouthern states and Mexico, Foor

explained. He said that the season typi-cally closes mid-summer, but BlackberryBottom will have its harvests betweenmid-July and early September. “We’refilling a hole in the supply chain,” Foorremarked.

Blackberries, which are high inantioxidants and considered a “super-fruit,” are becoming very popular as awine base, and the farm will be growingfive different varieties of berries. Most ofthe berries will be sold, to markets inNew York, Washington, D.C. and otherlarge cities, but Foor hopes to set asidesome rows for local sales.

He also would like to see the variety ofproducts expand. “In the future as weexpand we’ll probably look at wine-mak-ing, jams and jellies, et cetera,” he said.

Blackberry Bottom will the largestcommercial farm of its type betweenNew England and northern Virginia.Foor said, “It’s a pretty steep investmenton the front end of things,” butexplained that the company potentiallycould receive around $45,000 per acre inrevenue when the berries are sold.

2 – Friday, July 15, 2011— Bedford Gazette, Bedford, Pa.