HARTSBURG — In a small packaging warehouse in the southern Boone County town of Hartsburg, staff at River Hills Harvest fills orders for Missouri elderberry products.

From this small facility in the forested hills of the Missouri River, the team ships elderberry juice, gums, jam, tea and more across the country.

“We have weeks where we send stuff to all 50 states,” said Terry Durham, owner of River Hills Harvest, who used his grandmother’s recipe to create the elderberry jam.

Durham has been cultivating the small, deep purple berries and turning them into consumable products for nearly 30 years — and he was one of the first.

Cory W. MacNeil/ Missourian

A vegetable farmer originally, Durham said he was motivated to start growing a perennial crop like elderberry because it was good for his farmland and less labor intensive. In addition, he saw how successful European elderberry products were.

“We knew we had a big market if we could figure it out,” he said.

Thus began a decades-long partnership between farmers like Durham and researchers at the University of Missouri, who set out to learn how to grow, harvest, process and market this relatively rare crop.

“We started to create a plan on how to actually do this. What steps do we need to take to create an industry?” said Durham.

The American elderberry is native to Missouri and grows well in the lower Midwest.

Perennials like elderberries benefit the soil by keeping living roots in the ground year-round, which retains water and reduces erosion. These are qualities farmers are looking for as agriculture faces the impacts of climate change.

But markets for these crops can be hard to find and require development and customer education, as was the case with elderberries.

Andrew Thomas studies horticulture, agroforestry and specialty crops at MU. He said his elderberry work consumes him and he depends on partnerships with growers guide the research.

Cory W. MacNeil/ Missourian

“Farmers are the ones who take it and take it in stride,” he said.

For decades, elderberry researchers and farmers have shared data between the lab and the field. Researchers initially began testing different varieties or growing different varieties of beans.

From there, they developed best practices for growing and harvesting elderberries and studied their health benefits. In 2010, MU received a National Institutes of Health grant to examine the medicinal aspects of elderberries, finding that it is positive for brain health. Thomas’ research has also shown that the antioxidants in elderberries can boost the immune system.

Researchers and growers also worked together to figure out how to process the fruit into products sold at River Hills Harvest and other Missouri elderberry orchards.

“It just keeps growing and growing and growing, not astronomically, but every year there’s more growers, there’s more new products,” Thomas said.

Solid information on how to grow, harvest, process and market elderberries allows farmers to diversify their farms, a tenet of regenerative agriculture—a movement that aims to revitalize the natural ecosystem of farmland and, by extension, rural communities.

Thomas said even with 28 years of research, elderberry is still considered an emerging crop. For other soil-friendly perennials to be discovered, he said, similar research efforts are needed not only to grow the plant but also to create products from it.

“Paw Paws and chokeberry … black walnuts, even pecans,” Thomas said. “They all need new research to develop the culture.”

Value added product

When a farmer takes raw produce, such as an elderberry, and processes it into something like juice, it is called a value-added product that can be sold at a higher price.

“A value-added producer can really command a whole range of market prices, but the market isn’t just there. They have to go out and find that market,” said Mallory Rahe, MU agribusiness professor.

Cory W. MacNeil/ Missourian

She helps farmers develop business plans, account for labor costs, create products and find markets through MU Extension.

“The manufacturer needs to really understand – what do consumers want? What are they willing to pay for it? And am I properly equipped to bring that product to market at a price that people can afford and want to buy?” she said.

In Missouri, farmers add value through jams, barbecue sauces, fermented foods, and meat and wood products.

In addition to a higher price, Rahe said the benefits of value-added products are the ability to diversify offerings and extend product life, preserving them in some way, benefiting a farm’s economic sustainability.

“Think of yourself as a consumer going to a farmer’s market stand, you’re going to pay more for a bowl of salad with other ingredients than a bag of mixed greens than you would for a lettuce,” she. said.

Rahe said a lot of customer education is needed when marketing a unique and somewhat unknown product like elderberries.

“A lot of consumers may not even have heard of it and certainly haven’t tried it,” she said. “That first introduction to that product is really critical.”

With an emerging crop like elderberry, growers must also teach consumers how to add it to their diet, often by offering tastings, discussions and providing written materials.

“Elderberry is a very versatile crop,” Rahe said. “There are lots of ways to use it, which is both an opportunity and a challenge for manufacturers.”

Community of growers

Little elderberry grows in clusters at the very top of a 6-by-12-foot tall stem. During harvest, growers break the bunches by hand.

From there, many Missouri-grown elderberries will go through a “de-husking” machine — a product invented by local growers 15 years ago that includes a metal tray that shakes the small berries off the stalks.

Cory W. MacNeil/ Missourian

“When we started making the elderberries, there was no equipment to process the berries or a way to grow them commercially — the American elderberry,” said River Hills Harvest’s Durham. “So we had to go through a lot of steps.”

For years, Durham has connected elderberry growers and recruited more.

Earnie Bohner started Persimmon Hill Farm in southwest Missouri in 1982. With his family, he has grown blueberries, blackberries, shitake mushrooms and, for over a decade, elderberries.

Bohner turns most of these berries into products – jams, syrups, jellies and more. He met Durham at an agricultural conference.

“During one of the breaks we started talking about elderberries and the potential for elderberries, market and stuff,” he said.

Cory W. MacNeil/ Missourian

Bohner received some elderberry plants soon after and began selling juice, syrup and jelly from his farm. He is passionate about value-added products and likes that they allow him to sell his products year-round, but said it comes with a learning curve.

“You have a whole new discipline,” Bohner said. “If you decide you’re going to jam, then you have to know how to set that up and you have to know how to get all the materials and packaging materials etc.”

From the beginning, Durham worked to establish “pods” of elderberry growers around the country so farmers have people in their areas to learn from and troubleshoot when growing the new fruit. Durham said it allows growers to share equipment and combine marketing efforts.

Cory W. MacNeil/ Missourian

He believes elderberries are a tool farmers can use to diversify their operations and increase their economic and environmental sustainability.

“We encourage people to try to make products and sell them in your community because we know that brings more wealth and safety to farmers and communities,” Durham said.

He travels constantly, speaking at conferences and trying to reach potential customers, sharing with them the benefits of the humble sock.

“It takes 2,000 berries to make each 11-ounce bottle of juice,” he said.

Durham recommends a dose of elderberry juice a day — both for his own well-being and that of his farm.

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