When global fruit breeder Bloom Fresh develops a new table grape, cherry or blueberry variety, there’s exhaustive science behind it, but also a keen eye to what three core demographics — growers, retailers and consumers — want most.
Helping to bring these fruits to fruition, in August, Bloom Fresh opened the doors to its new $14 million Fruitworks Discovery Center, in McFarland, Calif. The sprawling campus is equipped with specialized labs and research areas, 150 acres of test vineyards, 25,000 square feet of greenhouses and more — all designed to elevate natural fruit breeding.
“We’re moving from a very old, very small lab space — and so our new space is allowing us to really expand the types of activities we can do in-house,” Chris Owens, Bloom Fresh head of plant breeding, told The Packer on a recent tour of Fruitworks.
The new lab space is also expediting the development of new varieties with desirable characteristics that “tick all the boxes” for growers, retailers and consumers alike, the company says.
“There’s a lot of different traits and characteristics we care about as we’re trying to develop a new variety of a grape or a cherry, and then what we’re trying to do is harness the genetic tools that exist to essentially be faster at what we’re doing,” Owens said.
He says breeding woody plants like grapes and cherries is a slower process than developing a new corn or tomato variety, which are quick-cycling plants.
“Grapes and cherries are slow growing. They take a long time to go through a cycle,” Owens said. “So, any place along that process where we can cut off some of the time really adds up, because the cycle of the breeding typically has multiple generations.
“If you can shave some time off with each one of those cycles, it multiplies, and you can reduce the overall development time of a new variety — that’s one of the biggest reasons we’ve expanded,” he added.
More than satisfying the need for speed, the discovery center also allows Bloom Fresh to more efficiently develop fruit with the flavor and texture characteristics consumers crave most as well as plants with the disease resistance and climate resilience growers seek, says Owens.
“I think it’s possible to always be improving the varieties that exist,” he said. “There are generally always some flaws in what currently is out there, and there are improvements that can be made.
“As a company, I think we’ve been very successful in terms of developing things that are improved and what people want,” Owens continued. “It’s about making improvements for the grower, but also trying to make improvements that consumers are excited about — that’s what we want. We want excitement from the consumer.”
A world of fruit breeding
As a global company, Bloom Fresh isn’t just testing and trialing in California. The fruit breeder has test blocks in many countries, so it can select varieties based on performance in each of a dozen unique climates in which it grows.
“We might be working on a variety for years — probably six to eight years, once it’s selected and before it gets released commercially — just to make sure that it works in a particular location and that it ticks all of the boxes for the growers, for the marketers, for the retailers and for the consumers,” said Elena Aguaron, Bloom Fresh commercial lead for table grapes, U.S. and Canada. “So, it is not a fast process. It’s very slow.”
Experimentation and excitement
Bloom Fresh says it works to create excitement in the grape category in both its labs and out in its test vineyards.
“We’ve introduced some novel flavors — new things like Cotton Candy — which we’re also trying to make some improvements in,” Owens said. “Then we’re also always trying to introduce new things, like some red-flesh varieties with higher health benefits.”
Meanwhile, the cherry and blueberry program at Bloom Fresh is focused on low-chill varieties that can be grown in warmer climates and new growing regions.
“Traditionally, cherries need a long, cold winter for the buds to develop normally — to break — so we’re trying to reduce how much chilling they need in the wintertime,” Owens said.
“We’re trying to push the limits,” Aguaron added.
“For Bloom Fresh, customer service is very important,” Owens said. “We develop strong, long-term relationships with our partners. We have a large international team that’s trying to support the successful introduction and then production of these new varieties. It’s very important to us.”
