Rooted in the Pacific Northwest berry industry

We are a nonprofit organization working across the Pacific Northwest berry industry to help connect growers, researchers, and industry members to resources supporting berry production across the region.

Two people examining branches of berry plants in a field

Our work has evolved alongside the needs of the industry—from field-based support and applied research to outreach, research program administration and collaborative regional initiatives.

What connects that work is a practical understanding of the industry we serve and a willingness to work where support is needed.

Explore What We Do

Our Mission

To promote a viable, science-based, and environmentally responsible Pacific Northwest berry industry through applied research and extension.

Our Vision

To unite, inform, and empower a world-class Pacific Northwest berry sector.

Why NBF exists

Agriculture doesn’t always need another organization or program. Sometimes it needs collaboration between the ones already doing the work.

Growers identify challenges in the field. Researchers investigate them. Commodity groups and industry organizations bring their own expertise, responsibilities and resources. But efficiently moving information between those groups, coordinating collaborative efforts and providing the capacity to carry initiatives forward takes dedicated support.

That’s where we come in.

NBF was built to respond to practical industry needs. Sometimes that means boots in the field collecting and interpreting data. Sometimes it means translating and distributing research so growers can use it. Other times, it’s administering the processes that keep a research funding program efficient, organized, and moving forward.

What that looks like may change from one collaboration to another. The purpose remains the same: moving timely information where the industry needs it.

our history

From a North Portland basement

NBF’s story didn’t begin with a nonprofit.

In 1994, Tom and Anna Peerbolt started Peerbolt Crop Management (PCM) from their home in North Portland. Alongside PCM’s commercial field services, Tom and Anna were also carrying out educational and charitable activities for the industry. The Small Fruit Update, which began around 2000 as a faxed newsletter for growers, became one expression of that work.

Over time, a structural problem became clear. The educational and charitable programs had become valuable beyond the lifespan and structure of a privately owned business. Though Tom and Anna started their company as a for-profit, their guiding principles centered around the idea that rising tides lift all boats. A nonprofit provided that structure and NBF was born—giving those efforts an independent organizational home with nonprofit governance and building in services that supported the growth of the PNW berry industry.

The North Portland basement remained home to NBF for years as we expanded our role across field services, outreach, research and regional industry initiatives. In 2023, the organization moved into its current Northeast Portland location, marking a new chapter for an organization whose roots remain firmly connected to the practical needs that started it.

Who we serve

Our work supports people and organizations across the Pacific Northwest berry industry, including:

Growers & Farms

Through field services, research support, practical information and connections to regional resources.

Researchers & Research Programs

Through research collaboration, outreach, program administration and connections with the industry their work is intended to serve.

Commodity & Industry Organizations

Through collaborative initiatives, communication, field support and administrative services shaped around regional needs.

The Wider Berry Industry

Through resources, events, relationships and infrastructure that help information and expertise move across the region.

Want to know more about our work?

Connecting different parts of the industry

Berry production doesn’t happen in isolation.

Growers, researchers, commodity groups, nurseries, packers, and regional programs each hold different knowledge, responsibilities and resources.

Our role often sits between them.

Sometimes that means supporting work happening directly in commercial fields. Sometimes it means helping research findings reach growers in a useful form. Sometimes it means providing the administrative structure behind a research funding program or helping different organizations work around a shared regional need.

We don’t replace the expertise of the people doing that work.

We help connect it.

Explore Our Work

A regional perspective

A snow-capped mountain rising above evergreens and a hedge of berry plants, with bare soil and irrigation line in the foreground

The Pacific Northwest berry industry crosses crops, organizations and state or provincial lines.

Production challenges in one part of the region can inform work happening somewhere else. Research conducted with one crop may create useful questions for another. Grower observations can help researchers identify emerging needs, while research findings can help the industry respond to changing production conditions.

Working across those intersections allows us to help connect individual efforts to a wider regional picture.

It also means our role can change depending on what the need requires.

We may lead a project, support one, administer a process, communicate its outcomes or simply help connect the right people.

The people behind the work

NBF brings together people working across field services, agricultural science, research, outreach, program administration, operations, communication and technology.

That mix of experience allows our team to work across different parts of the industry while remaining connected to the practical needs behind the work.

Meet Our Team

Start a conversation

Whether you’re looking for field support, exploring a research or outreach need, managing a funding initiative, searching for information about the berry industry, or interested in collaborating with us, we are here to assist you directly or connect you with an industry professional who can help.

Contact NBF