PHOTO GALLERY: Elderberries growing as a commercial crop

June 7, 2012 | 10:43 a.m. CDT

Terry Durham and other farmers and researchers are building up the elderberry industry. Durham is a partner in the River Hills Harvest Elderberry Producers, a cooperative that buys elderberries from farmers and processes them into juice, cordial and jelly.

Unripened elderberries grow in the sun Sunday at Jemerson Land Company LLC in Hartsburg. The berries will be ready for harvest around mid-July, according to Terry Durham. Durham lives on the land and produces elderberries and their products in partnership with Jemerson Land Company. Durham is farming on the forefront of the elderberry industry, trying to make it a specialty crop in Missouri. | Robert Swain

Terry Durham stands in the fields of elderberries on Sunday at Jemerson Land Company LLC in Hartsburg. "It's all days to me, that’s the elderberry life," said Durham. | Robert Swain

The main stage for the third annual Elderberry Festival in Hartsburg sits next to a field of elderberries at Jemerson Land Company LLC on Sunday. The elderberry festival is Thursday to Saturday. "Getting a place for children and farmers alike to gather is what it's all about," said Rodger Lenhardt, landowner and manager of Jemerson Land Company. | Robert Swain

Terry Durham, elderberry farmer at Eridu Farms, presents the different types of elderberries he grows at Jemerson Land Company LLC. Eridu Farms partners with Jemerson Land Company to produce elderberries and their products. Durham and other farmers are creating an elderberry industry from the ground up. “It's our local super fruit,” said Durham. | Robert Swain