Sun World International and Pairwise today announced the formation of a joint venture to collaborate in specialty fruit, beginning with the development of a pitless cherry. Sun World will have exclusive commercial rights to these genetics as they seek a first-to-market position in high-quality pitless cherries. The partnership leverages Sun World's fruit breeding and licensing expertise with Pairwise's Fulcrum® platform. As part of the agreement, Sun World will make strategic investments to fund development.
In addition to maximizing yield and mitigating against climate change, one of Sun World's north stars is providing a demonstrably superior consumer eating experience in every way including optimizing convenience. Sun World has long been recognized and invested in convenience traits in produce, first introducing a smaller and seedless watermelon, driving further enhancements in the seedless grape category and more recently acquiring the variety rights management business responsible for introducing seedless lemons and many of the mandarin varieties being promoted at retail under such brands as Cuties®, Halos®, Peelz® and Clemengold®.
"Our focus has long been on offering truly differentiated genetics to our growers with exceptional new traits, flavors, texture and convenience," said Bernardo Calvo, Sun World's CEO. "Developing a high-quality pitless cherry is a natural innovation evolution for us and in Pairwise, we've found an extraordinary partner already well down this quite complex path."
Pairwise, which has developed the world's first seedless blackberry, brings an unmatched platform that accelerates the development of in-demand crop traits. Traditional breeding involves a lengthy process, but this approach creates a faster path to fruits that consumers will enjoy while providing growers with crops that offer greater sustainability, improved disease resistance, and higher yields.
© Sun World LLC
Left: Bernardo Calvo, Sun World. Right: Tom Adams, Pairwise.
"This is a segment of agriculture where there's tremendous opportunity to bring meaningful innovation," said Dr. Tom Adams, CEO of Pairwise. "Sun World has built one of the most successful commercial pipelines in fruit genetics. Combining that expertise with the precision and efficiency of Pairwise's Fulcrum platform allows us to address unmet consumer and grower needs in a way that hasn't been possible before."
Pairwise will lead the R&D effort, while Sun World contributes its germplasm, breeding infrastructure, and commercial market access. The joint venture is already advancing development work and may explore additional strategic partnerships. In addition to its focus on consumer traits, the collaboration aligns with broader industry efforts to use advanced plant breeding to support sustainable agriculture, reduce waste and create higher-value outcomes for both consumers and producers.
For more information:
Maureen Crow
Sun World International, LLC
[email protected]
www.sun-world.com
