One of the UK's leading fruit suppliers has joined forces with the oldest university in the world for 23 new cherry varieties.
JO Sims has signed an eight-year varietal agreement with Bologna University's Department of Agricultural Sciences for 18 yellow Rainier-like cherries and five red Sweet cherry cultivars.
The deal gives JO Sims exclusive growing and commercial rights in the UK, USA and Spain.
Christopher Sims, managing director of the Spalding-based firm, said: 'Both ourselves and the university are very optimistic that these new varieties will deliver excellent results in terms of fruit quality, flavour, high productivity and consistent cropping.
'The University of Bologna has an excellent track record in this regard dating back to the 1980s when it began its first breeding programme. In particular we are looking for cultivars that produce top quality, large-sized fruit that will offer the consumer consistency and ripen uniformly over the entire growing season.'
Dr Stefano Lugli, of Bologna University, said:'Our objective when developing new varieties is to meet the various demands of the producers and the marketplace; with priority assigned to consumers followed by business.
'In addition to the routine approach of crossing and selection, we also employ various unique and patented techniques to speed up the initial development process, to increase the probability of success and to develop superior quality cherries. We have been involved with JO Sims for over three years, and their work going forward will provide invaluable field performance data from a range of growing environments and conditions.'
JO Sims has been farming cherries for over two decades, and is one of the UK's leading fresh cherry suppliers.
Bologna University is a global leader in cherry breeding.
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