Biggest ‘berry’ big results 

Fast facts 

• Fruit, vegetable stations host informal contest for biggest berries 
• Berries are part of research into variety performance 

KIBLER — There’s no trophy, but an informal competition between two Arkansas agricultural research stations does come with a little bit of bragging rights for the biggest berry.  

The competition, now a few years old, comes in two flavors: strawberry and blackberry. 

It pits the Vegetable Research Station at Kibler against the Fruit Research Station at Clarksville. The two stations host variety and production trials as part of their land grant mission within the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. Variety trials help researchers determine which fruits might perform best under different conditions for farmers in Arkansas.  

 While the work is serious, a little friendly competition never hurts.  

“One of my program associates, Lesley Smith, worked at the fruit station several years ago. The fruit station program associate, Taunya Ernst, had a competition for who could pick the largest blackberry,” said Stephen Eaton, director of the Vegetable Research Station. “When we started to grow strawberries, Lesley and Taunya started a competition between the two stations on who had the biggest strawberry. 

 “The prize has been for bragging rights. However, if someone wants to come up with a traveling trophy, it might get serious,” Eaton said with a laugh.  

Who won? 

This year, Eaton fired the first volley, tweeting a short video May 11 about his station’s biggest berry https://twitter.com/uavegstation/status/1392234875218976769?s=12. The chunky berry weighed in at 93.35 grams or 3.29 ounces.  

“Even though we won last year’s competition, the Vegetable Station will concede the biggest berry this year to the Fruit Station,” Eaton said.   

With strawberry harvest finishing up on May 27, Jackie Lee, director of the Fruit Research Station, said the biggest berry clocked in at 95.8 grams, or about 3.38 ounces.  

“It doesn't surprise me that Fronteras was the biggest at both stations! It makes some giant berries,” she said. “Not everyone grows it, but it is being tried by growers more and more.”