2018 ASHS Annual Conference

Dr. Clark developed or co-developed 63 fruit cultivars of blackberries, peaches, nectarines, grapes, and blueberries as a faculty member at the University of Arkansas. He also developed the world’s first primocane (fall)-fruiting blackberries and the first dwarf blackberries. These innovations plus additional UA blackberry cultivars are used worldwide for fresh-market production, and account for 21.3 million plants sold with a wholesale value of $40 million, and a production area of 11,000 acres, with crop value of over $ 400 million. Of these cultivars, 51 US Patents were awarded or filed, the resulting royalty income totaled $5.7 million through 2017, and license agreements for propagation and use totaled 250 domestic and 359 International. These innovations expanded the annual intellectual property income of the breeding program to the University from $40,000 in 1997 to over $1,000,000 in 2017, and created cooperative breeding and testing agreements worldwide that resulted in the expansion of the utilization of Arkansas genetics in a range of environments and markets. Dr. Clark has also written, presented and produced over 1000 publications, presentations, and videos. He was inducted into the Arkansas Agriculture Hall of Fame in 2018.