Undercover buyers and DNA tests follow Driscoll's blueberries into China
Jon Emont's report traces how a company built a Chinese taste for blueberries, then went to court over who was growing its plants.
The Wall Street Journal
Story of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 164,984 views a day, 15 times a normal first day on this channel (11,253).
How China Stole Driscoll's Secret for Blueberries
Blueberries were barely a fruit in China until Driscoll's decided to change that. "Blueberries weren't even a popular fruit in China until Driscoll's set out around 15 years ago to make the fruit the country's next big food trend," Wall Street Journal reporter Jon Emont says at the start of the channel's new Short.
The plan worked almost too well. Driscoll's was soon supplying Chinese supermarkets by the thousands of tons, and local entrepreneurs, watching the profits, started farms of their own. "In 2021, China overtook the U.S. as the world's top blueberry grower," Emont says, and a year later it was producing twice as much as the U.S.
Then came the part the title promises. Investigators working for Western fruit companies posed as traders, bought plants and, in Emont's words, "sent them for DNA testing to prove they were pirated." A Chinese court ruled that farmers had copied the company's patent-protected varieties and its greenhouse setups, and one employee admitted pulling strings to get cuttings. Driscoll's has filed more than 20 lawsuits in China. Former chief executive Soren Bjorn says it has won two.
The Short passed 130,000 views within 16 hours, and its comment section filled about twenty times faster than on the channel's usual Short. Most of the talk is not about the investigators at all. Many viewers are surprised that a fruit variety can be patented in the first place, and others swap notes on which blueberries taste sweetest.
Food business has done well for this channel before: a Short on why Costco's CEO turned down a Kirkland bacon-egg-and-cheese sits among its most watched.
Published on Trari
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What viewers say
It crazy how you could patent fruits and vegetables.
@PresidentUSVISee it on YouTubeChinese American here, somehow the Chinese variety of blueberry and strawberry are so much sweeter than the one we have in the states
@shenkevin2See it on YouTubeBlows my mind that you can patent food.
@UnCoolDadSee it on YouTube
3 more comments
Winning a case is great for ego, but the court rulings won’t make your market shares come back … 😅
@alumni2a692See it on YouTubeChinese tea would like a word with those lawyers.....😮
@Jeff-si7niSee it on YouTubePlants shouldn't even be allowed to be patented. What a world 😑
@DaRkSiDeOfThEmOoN_9See it on YouTube
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- Channel
- The Wall Street Journal
- Subscribers
- 6,720,000 ▲ 10,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 7,538,843
- Channel views, pace per day
- 632,556 (on a normal day: 1,030,838)
- Video published
- October 21, 2026
- Video views so far
- 136,824 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 164,984
The numbers
A two-minute report on fruit and patents started far faster than the channel's usual Shorts, with a comment section busier still.
💡 Test your knowledge
In which U.S. state is Driscoll's headquartered?
Driscoll's is based in Watsonville, California, in the berry-growing region near Monterey Bay.