Blackcurrant production in the United States is relatively limited. The blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum) was introduced by English settlers at the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629 and was cultivated on some scale, particularly in New York. The plant acts as a host for the white pine blister rust that threatened the timber industry. In 1911, the federal government banned the cultivation, sale and transport of blackcurrants to protect the white pine. Government programs systematically destroyed blackcurrant plants by chemical spraying.