The Ouachita Thornless Blackberry was developed by Arkansas and they seem to be the masters at producing new strains. I think I read Texas A&M was collaborating with them but maybe I dreamed that.
Thought you might find this thread interesting. It has some links to some prepper projects:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3113235/posts
I liked this one for a garden in a barrel that has been turned into a big pocket garden container.
http://americanpreppersnetwork.net/viewtopic.php?f=125&t=36668