Barberry eradication crew, ca. 1930s.The Barberry Eradication Program took advantage of government work relief programs during the era of the Great Depression.

Barberry eradication crew

Barberry eradication crew, ca. 1930s.The Barberry Eradication Program took advantage of government work relief programs during the era of the Great Depression.

School children in Dakota County, Minnesota, ca. 1930s, learning about barberry eradication

Children learning about barberry eradication

School children in Dakota County, Minnesota, ca. 1930s, learning about barberry eradication

A worker pours salt on a barberry bush in Minnesota, ca. 1925. Applying salt to kill a bush’s roots was the main method of destroying them before the widespread use of herbicides in the 1950s.

Destroying barberry bushes with salt

A worker pours salt on a barberry bush in Minnesota, ca. 1925. Applying salt to kill a bush’s roots was the main method of destroying them before the widespread use of herbicides in the 1950s.

Advertisement for a radio broadcast on WCCO hosted by E. C. Stakman in 1925—an example of public education about barberry eradication.

Advertisement for a radio broadcast about barberry eradication

Advertisement for a radio broadcast on WCCO hosted by E. C. Stakman in 1925—an example of public education about barberry eradication.

A wheat rust exhibit at a county fair in Minnesota in 1922—an example of public education about barberry eradication.

County Fair exhibit on barberry eradication

A wheat rust exhibit at a county fair in Minnesota in 1922—an example of public education about barberry eradication.

Informational circular to promote destruction of barberry bushes, ca. 1920s.

Barberry Eradication circular

Informational circular to promote destruction of barberry bushes, ca. 1920s.

Publicity poster to promote destruction of barberry bushes—an example of public education about barberry eradication. Date unknown.

Poster promoting destruction of barberry bushes

Publicity poster to promote destruction of barberry bushes—an example of public education about barberry eradication. Date unknown.

Diagram showing the different stages of black stem-rust disease—the kind that attacks the barberry bush. Date unknown.

Life cycle of black stem-rust disease

Diagram showing the different stages of black stem-rust disease—the kind that attacks the barberry bush. Date unknown.

Planted barberry bushes displayed as ornamentals around a home in Minnesota, ca. 1918.

Common barberry plant

Planted barberry bushes displayed as ornamentals around a home in Minnesota, ca. 1918.

Barberry Eradication Program, 1918–1980

Begun in 1918 and active until the late 1970s, the Barberry Eradication Program was an unprecedented cooperative effort between the US Department of Agriculture and twelve US states to remove the invasive common barberry bush from major areas of wheat production in the United States. The common barberry bush was a problem because it is a secondary host for the fungus that causes stem-rust disease, the most devastating disease of wheat. Minnesota played the central role in the establishment and operations of the eradication program.

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