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CapitalPress.com
July 29, 2016
Horticulturist seeks one more hit
Pat Moore searches
for next superstar
raspberry cultivar
before retiring
Pat Moore
Age: 63
Position: Horticulturist at Washington State University’s Puyallup
Research and Extension Center
Education: Bachelor’s degree in forestry, Oregon State University;
master’s degree in forestry, University of Minnesota; doctorate in
forestry, Michigan State University
By DON JENKINS
Background: A Portland native, after earning his doctorate, Moore
worked for International Paper Co. breeding pine trees in the South;
did post-doctoral work under Michigan State University horticulture
professor Jim Hancock, a breeder of popular blueberry varieties.
Capital Press
PUYALLUP, Wash. —
Since 1987, Washington State
University berry breeder Pat
Moore has occupied the same
ofice, a cubbyhole crammed
with books, family mementos,
worn furniture and plaques.
The plaques commemorate
milestones in Moore’s career.
He’s patented three strawberry
cultivars and four raspberry cul-
tivars. Last year, he was award-
ed the Wilder Medal by the
American Pomological Society,
a national honor given for con-
tributions to fruit breeding.
Four or ive years from re-
tirement, however, Moore, 63,
has ambitions to top his past ac-
complishments.
He hopes to develop the red
raspberry that will succeed the
Don Jenkins/Capital Press
Washington State University plant breeder Pat Moore sits in the
ofice that he’s occupied since 1987 at the Puyallup Research and
Extension Center. Moore was nationally recognized last year for
developing new strawberry and raspberry cultivars.
renowned but aging Meeker as
the king of Washington raspber-
ries.
“The growers really want
a new raspberry,” Moore said.
“They feel Meeker, the term
they use, is ‘running out.’”
Raspberry farmers have re-
lied for several decades on the
Meeker, which was released
by WSU in 1967 and named
for Oregon Trail pioneer Ezra
Meeker, Puyallup’s irst mayor.
Meeker, the man, grew rich
growing hops and built a man-
sion 2 miles from the WSU Puy-
allup Research and Extension
Center.
Meeker, the berry, was the
superstar of its generation, and
the next.
In the 1980s it surpassed the
venerable Willamette, a cultivar
released by Oregon State Uni-
versity and the U.S. Department
of Agriculture in 1943.
Meeker provided the con-
sistency processors crave, and
nearly all Washington rasp-
berries are sold to processors.
Raspberries are a $57 million-
a-year business in Washington.
Only California produces more
raspberries, but almost all of its
berries are sold as fresh fruit.
However, Meeker’s popular-
ity may eventually be its down-
fall. Any disease Meeker is vul-
nerable to spreads from ield to
ield, Moore said.
“Meeker may be showing its
age,” he said.
Fifteen years ago, Meeker
made up 70 percent of the plant
sales in Washington, Oregon and
British Columbia. Now, Meek-
er holds about one-third of the
market, while another one-third
is held by a relative newcomer,
Wakeield, bred in New Zealand
and tested in Washington.
No other cultivated variety
claims more than 10 percent of
the market.
The privately developed
Wakeield plants cost more
than cultivars released by pub-
lic institutions such as WSU,
and while that works for some
growers, it doesn’t work for
all, Washington Red Raspberry
Commission Executive Director
Henry Bierlink said.
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“We would love to see the
hot new berry come out of
WSU,” he said.
The commission, a inan-
cial supporter of Moore’s ber-
ry breeding program, wants a
high-yielding, summer-bearing,
winter-hardy, virus-resistant,
machine-harvestable raspberry.
“He’s been very willing
and able and responsive to our
needs, but we also recognize
he’s got a big challenge in front
of him,” Bierlink said.
Many years ago, Moore de-
cided to brand WSU’s raspberry
cultivars with the name “Cas-
cade.”
Beginning in 2003, Moore
has released Cascade Gold, Cas-
cade Dawn, Cascade Delight,
Cascade Nectar, Cascade Boun-
ty and Cascade Harvest.
Bierlink said it doesn’t ap-
pear any of the Cascades will
inherit Meeker’s throne.
“I would have to say the
consensus opinion of the rasp-
berry growers community is
‘no.’ They have been tried and
have some positive attributes,
but none of those varieties will
dominate in the future,” Bierlink
said.
A raspberry can excel in one
area, but fall short in another.
Moore, who ills raspberries
with chocolate pudding for
church socials, said Cascade
Dawn, released in 2005, was
particularly tasty. But the variety
doesn’t shake off the vine until
it’s too ripe, a law for machine
harvesting.
Cascade Harvest was the
cultivar most recently released,
in 2013, and the irst full har-
vest won’t be until 2017. There’s
hope the berry will perform well,
and it currently ranks fourth in
plant sales. But Moore said the
berry has not proven as tolerant
to root rot as he had hoped.
Each new cultivar represents
years of work. WSU has released
13 raspberry cultivars in 85
years, The average time between
crossing parents and commercial
sales has been 15.8 years.
This story irst appeared
Jan. 24, 2016.