![]() She highlights East Grove Farm in southeast Iowa that has made a successful business making elderberry mead and hosting music events. ![]() Wilson believes the fruit’s future is probably stronger in very small-scale producers who do more than just grow the crop, such as pick-your-own farms and agri-tourism where elderberries are part of something that showcases rural life. And again, you're gonna have to farm 40 acres of elderberries to just make the same amount that you could make right now on two or three acres,” she said. “But at the same time, that's gonna drop our price. “They say we need to be in drinks, we need to be in all these big outlets that people are pushing,” said Heather Wilson, a sales and social media manager for River Hills Harvest, a Missouri-based company that makes elderberry products and gifts. He sees elderberries having the potential to be as big as cranberries, and end up in energy drinks, nutrition bars, and many other products.īut some elderberry advocates worry that going big could mean lower prices for farmers. with American grown crop would be huge, according to Patton. ![]() Just replacing half of the number of elderberries imported into the U.S. “We have to be able to do large scale commercialization so that we can meet the needs of the larger producers in the place of imports and meeting the high quality standards,” Patton said. He works with more than 150 farmers across the region and said collectively they could help make elderberries much more mainstream. Elderberry products are now a $320 million a year business in the U.S., according to the American Botanical Council.Įlderberries are also being used in flavoring beer and wine, as a natural food coloring and in jams and jellies, Byers said.Ĭhris Patton, president of the Midwest Elderberry Cooperative, said with demand for elderberry products projected to grow by more than 30% by the end of the decade, now is the time for elderberries to go big. In fact, elderberry supplement products saw a 13% annual increase from 2019 to 2021. “We saw a situation where consumer demand for elderberry products resulted in basically the exhausting of our supply of berries,” Byers said. That led to a big demand for elderberry supplements during the COVID pandemic. With high levels of antioxidants, fiber and vitamin C, the berry has a reputation for reducing cold and flu symptoms. ![]() “We've seen an explosive growth in the production and we've seen an explosive growth in the development of markets for this crop,” said Patrick Byers, a horticulturist at the University of Missouri.Ī big part of that was the use of elderberries in nutritional supplements. ![]()
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