HISTORY

There is evidence that blackberry was planted in a Sydney garden in the late 1830’s. In 1842, blackberry was first recorded as being deliberately introduced from Europe into Adelaide for its fruit. Nine species were grown in the Botanic Gardens in Melbourne in 1851.

Blackberry is now one of the Twenty Weeds of National Significance (WoNS) due to its highly invasive nature, its negative impacts on agricultural production and its threat to biodiversity. Blackberry is estimated to cover 9% of the Australian continent.

Blackberry has many adverse impacts on agriculture, the environment, society and the economy. It is estimated that blackberry affects over 8.8 million hectares of grazing land and costs approximately $100 million annually in control and lost production. This is a rise of 60 million compared to survey results in the 1980’s. Economic costs associated with the environmental impacts of blackberry are still not quantifiable.

Cultivars from the genes Rubus are grown on a commercial basis across all Australian states except the Northern Territory. The total annual production of Rubus fruit in Australia is expected to grow beyond the gross value of the current $10 million annually.