Genetics

Can Genome Editing Make Produce Taste Better? Syngenta Says ‘Yes’

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 20:52:03 GMT

Melon sales are in decline, said Uri Krieger, Syngenta’s global R&D head for vegetable seeds, during a “Seeds of Change” panel discussion at last month’s New York Produce Show’s Global Symposium.

Why? They’re not harvested at the right time, so they’re not as flavorful, and consumers aren’t sure what they’re going to get when they buy one, Krieger told The Packer.

This is where genome editing comes into play.

“As a seed and technology company, genome editing is another tool — a very effective tool — in the toolbox, and we’ve been investing quite heavily in that space, not just in veg but also in row crops,” Krieger says. “It can serve, I won’t say any crop today — some are a little bit more complicated — but we’ve made a lot of progress in enabling that technology across many crops in our portfolio.

“The benefit that it can bring, first of all, is speed to market and also precision,” he continues. “You’re no longer bringing traits from the wild that normally bring some of what we call ‘linkage drag.’”

Linkage drag refers to undesirable traits like lower yield or quality that get carried along with beneficial genes when they are transferred from the wild into cultivated crops.

“It comes as a package, because it’s very hard just to take one nucleotide, the one gene out of the wild accessions,” he says. “This basically allows us to enter and make the edits to exactly what is needed. If you want to knock out a gene, just change one amino acid, and you can do that today.”

Uri Krieger is Syngenta’s global R&D head for vegetable seeds.

(Photo courtesy of Syngenta)

In addition to speed and precision, Krieger says genome editing also allows for the introduction of desirable new traits from disease resistance to flavor enhancements and more.

“The list of traits that we need to pack into our new varieties — that list is getting longer and longer,” he says. “Consumer demands are only going up; they want sweeter, better taste. They want the shelf life. And it gets more and more complicated to deliver that entire package in a variety. So, genome editing gives us kind of a shortcut.”

Can Melons Make a Comeback?

“We see a decline in melon consumption here in the U.S. Overall, I think the trend is not positive, and I love melons, so I’m a little bit biased,” Krieger says.

Long shipping processes and market demand for melons with a longer shelf life have also gotten in the way of more flavorful fruit. Krieger says once upon a time the same was true for tomatoes, but the industry moved away from it because of the impact on quality.

But Syngenta has found a solution for longer shelf life through the wild, he says.

“There are genes that don’t stop the ripening process, but they slow it down dramatically,” Krieger says.

The loss of seasonality with demand for melons 365 days a year has also played a role in melon sales decline, he says.

For melons to truly make a comeback, the industry needs to rebuild consumer confidence in knowing that they’re going to get a sweet and flavorful melon every time, he says.

“Our breeders have been working for the last eight years to identify a trait from a wild melon — I mean you wouldn’t eat this melon. It looks like a tennis ball, but it has one very unique trait: When it’s ripe, the ring around the melon turns from green to yellow,” Krieger says. “The breeder was able to isolate that gene and bring it into the modern melon, meaning when the melon starts accumulating enough sugars and is technically ripe, it’s going to look yellow instead of green.”

The implications for melons with visual ripeness cues are potentially profound for both hand and automated harvesting.

“Think about it from a mechanical harvest perspective in the future,” he says. “Think about it in terms of the crew that is harvesting melons. You don’t tell them, ‘Pick whatever you think is ready,’ you tell them to pick the yellow ones instead of the green ones. You can’t miss that.”

Krieger says highly flavorful melons are possible if you remove all the ripening inhibitors and grow them during the summer.

Syngenta hosts open field days every August in Woodland, Calif. Designed for professionals across the agricultural supply chain, these field days are also an opportunity to taste some amazing melons, Krieger says.

“We’re going to have wonderful melons out of there in the field that taste just like you remember them from your childhood. They exist,” he says.

Thanks to genome editing, Krieger is confident melons will regain momentum.

“Slowly, we’ll start to bring back the good image of melons at the retail level,” he says.

From AI to Genetics, Innovation is Fueling the Berry Category

Mon, 04 Aug 2025 18:50:04 GMT

GUADALAJARA, Mexico — Berry innovation was on full display at the recent Aneberries trade fair, where Hortifrut CEO Hector Lujan sat down with The Packer to share the vertically integrated company’s vision for the future of the category.

Founded in Chile, the global berry company operates its own commercial platforms as well as partnerships with U.S. growers including Naturipe, Michigan Blueberry Growers and Munger Farms. Globally, Hortifrut has a presence in India, China, North America, Latin America, Europe and Africa.

What role does innovation play at Hortifrut?

Lujan: It’s huge. Innovation is in our core values. We try to be a very innovative company that is always looking to challenge the status quo, but also reinvent ourselves in terms of how we farm, how we take product to market, and how we inform and bring people closer to our company.

We also expect a high level of execution. Innovation comes with the ability to bring it forward. So, we try to merge that in our culture, and hopefully it shows up. We also find that innovation generates a lot of really strong energy and excitement within the company that helps move us forward. And that’s been a testament to Hortifrut throughout its history.

How important are genetics to the future of blueberries and your company’s future?

Hortifrut has been a strong blueberry company, but we’re getting stronger in all the berry categories, and genetics are at the forefront of that. If you look at what’s transpired in the berry industry over the last 10 years, it’s really been driven by the genetic improvements, farming improvements, go-to-market improvements — but genetics are also at the forefront of creating a better eating experience with consumers and moving our products forward.

We are very engaged with our own genetics, but we’re also tapping into and looking to partner with different genetic houses to bring the best genetics to our farming. We invest in genetics on our own. We’re vertically integrated that way, but we’re also strategically partnering with other genetic houses, because we want to bring the best genetics to the table and products being represented under the Hortifrut, Naturipe labels.

What advancements are you seeing in the berry category and how is technology accelerating the pace of change?

Everybody’s innovating. And AI (artificial intelligence) has made leveraging information faster, but also much more constructive in terms of making changes and analyzing data for better decision making. AI is bringing a lot of really good tools that we can use as we build our databases.

Everybody you talk to in the industry is asking how much data is there in the community? How are you bringing that data together to empower your organization, be it with improved farming practices, better decision making, logistics, and even in genetics AI is becoming huge in terms of reading the recommendations of crossings. So, it’s playing a huge role.

There are other improvements in technology that are coming through in how we farm and automate harvesting or assisted harvesting. I think the most pronounced advancements have been through assisted harvesting, tools that allow for the harvester to be more productive.

At Fruit Attraction 2024 in Madrid, Hortifrut launched BerryReality , a virtual reality project designed to transform the way the industry and consumers connect with the company’s growing experience, innovation and sustainability practices. Is that helping to share Hortifrut’s story?

What you witnessed was our virtual reality tour that we’re trying to engage now and also use it to bring people closer to our company. We’re consistently trying to advance that forward, to have — even with AI — a conversation with people that brings them to a farm experience. We like to innovate in the marketplace. And we like to innovate in our farms.

Berry sales continue to boom in the U.S. Dollar sales for the berry category were over $12.5 billion, according to Circana OmniMarket Integrated Fresh retail data for the 52-week period ending June 15, 2025, up 7.5% over a year ago. What’s driving demand?

The competitive landscape in the berry industry has gotten tighter and tighter. And I think it’s stronger. Where the berry industry is growing because of the flavor profiles and the improvements in genetics, but it’s consumer demand for [a high-level] eating experience that’s really driving that growth. So, I think companies now are much more keen to ask, ‘How can we add value together with our customers, our retailers, and drive opportunity for the farmers through better eating experiences?’

And what we’re seeing is better genetics in every single berry category — in raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and strawberries — which is creating a much more competitive environment, but it’s also really good for the consumer because the eating experience keeps getting better and better, and that’s driving opportunity, growth and demand in the berry category.

The other factor driving sales is berries are getting discovered worldwide. What we’re seeing is that because of the health benefits of berries coupled with the eating experience, emerging markets are becoming huge opportunities. The world is eager to get berries into their stomachs. So, our share of stomach is growing worldwide.

A Fruit Logistica in Berlin earlier this year, Hortifrut sampled blueberries on the vine. When will you bring them to market and will they be available in the U.S.?

They’re available seasonally, because it’s certain varieties that we can harvest on the vine that need to mature evenly. So, it’s not a product that we have year-round. We have it in Europe right now. Actually, last week we started shipping the first berries on the vine into the Nordics, and it has been a great success.

It’s been a very rewarding experience. We’re seeing an even better shelf life with the berries on the vine , and people are excited to get them. So, it’s a novelty. It’s not something that we have done yet on a very big scale, but it’s something that is exciting for us — part of our innovation, part of our working with retailers to offer them something that’s unique and brings a differential to them. It also gets more people engaged with blueberries and is bringing new customers to the category.

As far as bringing blueberries on the vine to the United States, we’ve started those conversations and I’d say we’re in the ground stages of looking at how to enter that market.

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Agragene and Associates Insectary partner on gene editing approach to SWD control

Wed, 09 Apr 2025 14:22:35 GMT

Agragene and Associates Insectary have announced a partnership to advance Agragene’s Knockout SWD technology targeting spotted wing drosophila (SWD), a top pest of fresh berries. Agragene’s technology, still in development, uses gene editing to create sterile male SWD. Associates Insectary, which specializes in high-volume insect production, will rear the sterile males at their Santa Paula, Calif., facility.

Matt Helms, Agragene’s chief commercial officer, says the company reached out to Associates Insectary for a partnership for several reasons, including its respected reputation and extensive expertise. But a shared entrepreneurial spirit is at the heart of the partnership, he said.

“They are looking ahead from a vision perspective and trying to invest their time and partnerships into new technologies that can be game changing. That attracted us to each other,” Helms told The Packer.

A new twist on an old strategy

Both companies see strong potential for future pest control in Knockout SWD. The technology applies the tried-and-true sterile insect technique (SIT) to SWD, but with a twist: gene editing.

“Knockout is basically a gene edited process,” explained Bryan Witherbee, Agragene CEO. “We’re targeting two genes in particular; one that is responsible for female development and one that is responsible for spermatogenesis, or development of sperm.”

The result of this approach is an efficient process to produce only sterile male SWD eggs, Witherbee said. This contrasts with the traditional SIT process. That involves rearing the target pest to adulthood, sorting males from females, then irradiating the males.

While this process has been used effectively for decades, Witherbee called it time-consuming, labor-intensive and expensive. Irradiating the adult males comes with potential issues as well, starting with the impact of irradiation on the insects.

“It’s the same as for humans; it’s hard on you physically,” explained Chris Adams, assistant professor of tree fruit entomology at Oregon State University. Adams led a USDA-permitted experimental release of Knockout SWD in partnership with Agragene last summer.

“[Irradiation] kills and breaks down lots of cells, so there is a fitness cost,” Adams said.

Some of that fitness cost is dead, instead of just sterile, males. But it can also mean the sterile males that survive the irradiation process might not be able to compete against wild males to mate, Adams said.

The materials needed for the irradiation process also come with their own drawbacks. Adams explained most SIT programs use radioactive cobalt, a regulated substance.

“We know this is a very needed product. This is something that growers are anticipating.”

Bryan Witherbee, Agragene CEO

Witherbee sees a lot of advantages to Knockout SWD’s gene editing spin on SIT.

“Once we get the egg made, in terms of the sterile male, we don’t touch them,” he said, so the process sidesteps the drawbacks of irradiation-based SIT. He explained eggs will be packaged together with a food source in a convenient box. This can be placed in orchards or berry farms. The sterile males will develop inside the box until they reach adulthood and fly out to do their work.

Better together to battle SWD

Helms explained that in the planned partnership with Associates Insectary, Agragene will provide the breeding lines, one edited for non-viability in females and one edited for sterility in males, to Associates Insectary, who will then rear, pack and distribute them, something it is well equipped to do.

“Associates Insectary has the processes, controls and expertise to consistently rear our Knockout insect technology solution and is also strategically located in a key market geography,” Helms said in the companies’ joint news release.

Zach Slaughter of Associates Insectary also highlighted his company’s important location in Ventura County, near so many berry farms in California. With so many growers so close, he told The Packer the company has been able to hand-deliver beneficial insects to its customers. Slaughter said Associates Insectary long ago realized the industry needs transparent, reliable suppliers of beneficials.

“So, we quickly knew that we were going to focus on being a reliable producer that is not out to compete against our peer insectaries, but instead collaborate and support. In six months, we have partnered in some fashion with four other beneficial insectaries and providers to contract rear, assisting in stabilizing supply in key beneficials they identified needing production support in,” Slaughter said.

The invasive spotted wing drosophila is studied in the entomology lab at Oregon State University’s Mid-Columbia Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Hood River. The fly is a major new fruit pest.

(Oregon State University Extension photo by Lynn Ketchum. Used under the CC BY-SA 2.0/Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.)

He added that at Associates Insectary, “We truly believe ‘a rising tide lifts all boats,’” a mindset he said Agragene also embodies.

He called the partnership with Agragene on Knockout SWD something of a passion project for Associates Insectary given the compatibility of the two companies’ goals.

“Our mission is to advance the use of beneficials and other biocontrols over the use of harmful chemicals,” Slaughter said. “Outside of the obvious that [Agragene is] producing a beneficial insect and we are a commercial insectary, their focus in providing an accessible and scalable solution for growers as a way to execute their mission compliments ours.”

“The partnership with Associates Insectary enables us to scale our groundbreaking technology and bring it to growers who are desperately seeking insect control solutions,” Helms said in the release.

Tiny flies mean huge problems for berry growers

According to Adams, berry growers are indeed in need of solutions to the SWD problem because it is a massive one. A 2021 report in Entomology Today estimated the damage caused to U.S. fruit growers by SWD at $500 million annually.

“I think they are the biggest threat to soft fruit and berries,” Adams said.

He explained the basics of the SWD. They are relatively new invasive pests. Unlike native or more established berry pests, SWD can attack undamaged or unripe fruit. Worse, they reproduce stunningly fast.

Under the proper conditions, such as the warm months of summer, a SWD can go from egg to adult in seven to 10 days. Females can lay up to 600 eggs during their lifetime. Adults usually live for two to nine weeks but can overwinter under the right conditions.

“They’re survivors, and they do a really good job of making more flies,” Adams said.

The prolific nature of SWD means growers must be rigorous about pesticide application. “If you skip a week and you don’t spray, you end up with infested fruit,” Adams said.

SWD feed on any soft-skinned fruit such as blackberries, raspberries, cherries, strawberries and more. Females pierce the skin of even unripe fruit to lay their eggs.

(Oregon State University Extension photo by Amy Dreves. Used under the CC BY-SA 2.0/Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.)

This causes problems for organic and smaller growers, especially the small “mom and pop” U-pick farms, he said. But it also poses issues for conventional growers on labor, Helms added.

“This is all hand harvested, so the reentry or preharvest intervals — it varies a little bit on these products — really impacts the timing that the farmer can have his harvest crews rotate around to the different fields and maximize the yield opportunity.”

Adams also pointed out the damage SWD do to fruit, and their larva, look like that of the Western cherry fruit fly, a quarantine pest. This causes problems at the packing level.

Hatching spotted wing drosophila larvae feed on fruit before breaching the skin to escape.

(Oregon State University Extension photo by Amy Dreves. Used under the CC BY-SA 2.0/Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.)

“If it ends up in the packing house on the line, and they catch maggots inside of fruit, they have to stop the production line and ID what you have,” Adams said. “And because Western chair fruit fly restricts export of the fruit, you have to reject the whole load. You can’t take the chance.

“So growers hands are kind of tied right now to a very expensive and frequent pesticide application,” he continued. “So that’s why we’re really excited about this new sterile insect release technique from Agragene. It’s another tool; we don’t currently have a sterile insect release technique for spotted wing drosophila.”

A path forward for future pest projects

Helms described growers as throwing the kitchen sink at the SWD problem right now. Witherbee added growers are hungry for tools. They, like Adams, hope their Knockout SWD could be another tool in berry growers’ arsenal.

Though the technology is still in the research phase, Agragene envisions a 12-week program beginning when berries start flowering. This is roughly three or four weeks before wild SWD begin emerging, according to Helms. Growers would receive shipments of the boxed Knockout SWD every two weeks during the program. The boxes would be hung in trees, or on trellises or vines to get the gene-edited flies out into the fields ahead of the wild type.

“Our goal is that this is a foundational program. Kind of like with the COVID curve, instead of letting [SWD numbers] spike, we want to keep it down and push it out,” Adams said. “We believe we can have an opportunity to increase yields, increase quality and likely reduce the need for reliance on insecticides.”

“This is a much more environmentally friendly way to control insects and I just think it’s going to be — once they figure out how to get this to scale — a really exciting technique. And I think it’s going to be a great new tool for growers everywhere.”

Chris Adams, assistant professor of tree fruit entomology at Oregon State University

Witherbee said they project Knockout SWD will be available to growers sometime in 2027. The next step to getting there, however, is an experimental use permit from EPA. He said they expect to submit the experimental use permit (EUP) package within the month. The company is already looking for growers interested in participating in anticipation of the permit.

“Once we do get the approval from the EPA to do the experimental use permit, that opens up the amount of acreage that we can do. We are already kind of reaching out to some early adopters in terms of growers that are interested in trying this out with us.”

While Witherbee and Helms were excited about the potential for specifically the Knockout SWD technology, they both were also very hopeful about what it could mean for the future of the beneficials industry.

“Hopefully, as we work our way through, this truly becomes a template for the next generation,” Helms said.

Though SIT is a decades-old strategy, thus far genetic editing for sterility has only been used on mosquitoes. Using gene editing to produce SIT for agricultural pests is new regulatory terrain. Helms said he was excited to “start paving the regulatory path forward in the U.S. and new countries” with what Agragene is doing.

He added that the company is already thinking about next potential targets for the technology, including olive fruit fly, Mediterranean fruit fly and naval orange worm.

“At least two of those will be moving forward in parallel, but that is going to be a little bit of an evolution for the company,” he said.

Witherbee noted partnerships with insectaries like Associates Insectary will be key to those efforts.

“Hopefully the relationship and the learnings they got from this first one will carry over to the next and second and third insect, as we move these through,” Witherbee said.

Pairwise closes $40M funding round

Wed, 18 Sep 2024 14:56:17 GMT

Pairwise says it has closed a $40 million Series C funding round, with the investments to be used to scale the technology company’s product pipeline, including seedless berries and pitless cherries, as well as advance its Fulcrum Platform.

Pairwise says its new seedless blackberry variety, announced in June, will deliver an improved eating experience for consumers and, in concert with compact architecture and thornless traits, bring added benefits to farm workers, growers and the environment as well.

“We started Pairwise in the early days of CRISPR to accelerate innovation across agriculture, enabling the cultivation of crops that are more adaptive to climate change, and more nutritious and convenient for consumers, all while bolstering grower economics,” Tom Adams, Pairwise co-founder and CEO, said in a news release. “This new investment will enable us to expand the impact of our proprietary Fulcrum Platform as we continue to lead this transformation with our proven ability to deliver novel solutions that address the most pressing challenges in agriculture today.”

The funding round was led by Deerfield Management; multiple returning investors, including Aliment Capital and Leaps by Bayer, were joined by new investor and global agtech company, Corteva Inc., through its Corteva Catalyst platform, according to the release.

“Using their novel tools, Pairwise has delivered game-changing edits in plant varieties across consumer and big-acre crops in just a few short years,” said Cam Wheeler, partner at Deerfield Management and Pairwise board chairman. “We believe that the precision, speed, and safety of gene editing is poised to transform agriculture, and our ongoing investment reflects our confidence in Pairwise as the clear leader in this space.”

Corteva Chief Technology and Digital Officer Sam Eathington said the company views gene editing as a critical solution to drive climate resilience across agriculture and global food systems.

“Pairwise is an obvious choice for our investment to help accelerate innovation through gene editing in fruit, vegetables, and specialty crops,” Eathington said. “And as leaders in gene editing ourselves, Corteva’s ultimate aim is to work with Pairwise to unlock the impact of this technology to help solve climate challenges and produce the food, fiber and fuel required to meet the needs of a growing global population.”

In parallel to Corteva’s equity investment in Pairwise, the two companies have entered into a five-year joint venture collaboration that will focus on accelerating the pace of gene-edited technologies and developing improved products that are more resilient to future climate conditions, the release said.

Corteva’s investment in Pairwise is being made through Corteva Catalyst, the company’s new investment and partnership platform launched to boost agricultural R&D and sustainable food production innovations.

Using knowledge of plant genetics, a broad suite of CRISPR tools and high-impact editing techniques like multiplexing, Pairwise said it has delivered multiple products with differentiated plant genetics across significant crops, including corn, soy, wheat, canola, leafy greens, blackberries, and more. As one of the only companies in this space to launch commercially viable products to date, Pairwise introduced the first CRISPR food to North America — a blend of superfood mustard greens that eat like lettuce, edited to dial down the wasabi-like pungency for people looking for healthier salad options than what are available in the marketplace today, the release said.

After laying the important commercial groundwork, the company entered into an exclusive product licensing agreement with Bayer to further develop and sell 10 varieties of Pairwise-edited greens at scale, as well as to develop and breed for new varieties with the technology. Additionally, after delivering 27 novel traits to Bayer’s pipeline under an initial five-year partnership, the two companies entered a second multiyear collaboration to focus on developing a gene-edited version of short-stature corn to offer farmers better protection for their crops given improved sustainability in high winds and challenging weather conditions, better access during the season, and higher yields, according to the release.

The Pairwise Fulcrum Platform includes company-developed gene-editing tools for cutting, base editing and templated editing — a toolbox that enables not only turning a characteristic on or off, like removing a plant’s thorns to enable easier fruit harvesting, but also “tuning” it like a dimmer switch to dial a trait up or down, such as creating a new type of corn with up to 20% more kernel rows, the release said. Using Pairwise’s novel editing tools, scientists can precisely tailor a wide range of genetic variation to develop new, distinctive plant varieties much faster and more effectively than through conventional breeding, the company said. In concert with its tools, Pairwise said its intellectual property enables a straightforward path to product commercialization.

“Our technology licensing agreements provide secured IP and increase shareholder value. And our proprietary suite of technologies — our Fulcrum Platform — is enabling us to unlock transformative improvements in global agriculture,” Adams said. “Our product-development partnerships with global agriculture leaders, Corteva and Bayer, underscored by investments from both Corteva Catalyst and Leaps by Bayer, are an incredible validation of our technology and an important signal that gene editing will play a major role in improving agriculture innovation moving forward.”

Bred for success: Inside the Bloom Fresh Fruitworks Discovery Center

Mon, 02 Dec 2024 14:00:13 GMT

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.

The new Bloom Fresh Fruitworks Discovery Center includes 150 acres of test vineyards.

(Photo courtesy of Bloom Fresh)

“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.

Bloom Fresh’s new $14 million Fruitworks Discovery Center in McFarland, Calif., is equipped with specialized labs and research areas.

(Photo: Jennifer Strailey)

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.”

Each year, Bloom Fresh works with new seedlings to identify the “very small percentage” that have the most desirable characteristics, says Chris Owens, Bloom Fresh head of plant breeding.

(Photo: Jennifer Strailey)

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.”

Bloom Fresh says it works to create excitement in the grape category in both its labs and out in its test vineyards.

(Photo courtesy of Bloom Fresh)

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.”

Syngenta Vegetable Seeds, Apricus Seeds team up

Fri, 10 Jan 2025 13:42:44 GMT

Syngenta Vegetable Seeds says it has entered a global licensing agreement with Apricus Seeds, which will provide Syngenta exclusive access to Apricus’ germplasm and breeding pipeline in watermelon, melon and squash.

Syngenta said the addition of this cucurbit germplasm complements its existing cucurbit portfolio.

“We’re thrilled to embark on this partnership with Apricus Seeds and explore opportunities to innovate together and deliver the best seed genetics to growers,” Matthew Johnston, global head of vegetable seeds and flowers at Syngenta, said in a news release. “Industry collaboration is essential to serving growers of every type around the world. No single company has all the solutions, and we’re proud to partner across the industry to help bring more solutions to our customers.”

Located in Woodland, Calif., Apricus Seeds maintains research fields and breeding programs since its founding in 2020. The company sells open-pollinated and proprietary hybrid seeds across North America, South America, Europe and the Middle East.

“Partnering with Syngenta is a natural next step in the evolution of Apricus,” Larry Fernandez, CEO of Apricus Seeds, said in the release. “We’ve quickly built a strong portfolio of high-quality seeds, and this partnership will allow us to get our seeds into the hands of more growers around the world. We look forward to continuing to innovate together in the years to come.”

Syngenta said it was one of the first companies to breed vegetable varieties more than 150 years ago, and today operates in more than 60 countries and ships seeds to 124 countries.

Okanagan Specialty Fruits partners to enhance fruit breeding

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 13:25:29 GMT

Canada-based Okanagan Specialty Fruits says it has launched an R&D partnership with New Zealand-based Prevar to advance the breeding of apples and pears.

The multiyear initiative is intended to leverage tools such as genome editing to enable a fast and more precise focus on specific traits to develop cultivars with improved pest and disease resistance, reduced food waste and enhanced nutritional benefits, according to a news release.

OSF says it uses biotechnology based on its Arctic apple platform and that Prevar offers a wealth of genetic material and a track record with commercial varieties such as Rockit, Smitten and Lemonade apples and Piqa pears.

“We’re excited to work alongside Prevar and Plant & Food Research in this groundbreaking initiative,” said OSF founder and CEO Neal Carter. “This collaboration represents a shared commitment to using science and technology to create the next generation of apples and pears that will transform our industry and create new opportunities for growers and consumers.”

The company says the partnership will combine technological innovation, scientific rigor and commercial expertise to drive meaningful advancement of the industry with the breeding program of Plant & Food Research.

“Our partnership with OSF and Plant & Food Research is a milestone in our mission to bring innovative and sustainable solutions to the apple and pear industries,” said Tony Martin, chief executive of Prevar. “Together, we’re combining decades of expertise and bold new technologies to develop cultivars that address key challenges while creating exciting opportunities for growers and consumers.”

The collaboration will begin in January 2025, with the first pre-commercial products expected to be available in 2029.

“OSF’s experience in commercializing apples developed using biotechnology will provide valuable insights should New Zealand regulations and sentiments towards these technologies change,” Richard Newcomb, chief scientist at Plant & Food Research. “We are looking forward to working alongside OSF and Prevar to better understand how we can apply our gene discovery research in this new and fast-changing commercial setting. This in turn, will help us support New Zealand’s horticulture sector in making decisions on how they could apply this to future-proof the sector.”