Blackcurrant production in the United States

Research showed that blackcurrants could be safely grown some distance from white pines and this, together with the development of rust-immune varieties and new fungicides, led to most states lifting their bans by 2003.

[1] The plant was introduced to North America by English settlers at the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1629 and by the late 19th century there were some 7,400 acres (3,000 hectares) of Ribes in cultivation.

[2] The blackcurrant was not widely popular, being eclipsed by the red and white currants, and in 1925 their taste was described in The Small Fruits of New York as "a stinking and somewhat loathing savour".

[5] In response to concerns the federal government banned the cultivation, sale and transport of blackcurrants in 1911 and funded a program of eradication by chemical spraying, later often carried out by members of the Civilian Conservation Corps.

[3][4][7] The scientific advice changed over the following decades and it is now believed that the white pine is affected by the rust only where blackcurrants are grown in close proximity in moist conditions.

[4] Nationally, a prohibition on the import of blackcurrant plants from Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and several EU countries remains.

Danny L. Barney, a professor of horticulture at the University of Idaho, said in 2009: "People simply forgot about them ... there's ignorance about what they are, and there are so many fruits available from all over the world at the supermarket".

[3][11][12] There were few commercial pine tree plantations in Europe and the blackcurrant was a historically important crop; Ribes has never been banned in European states.