Leading US producer, marketer and breeder Sun World International has reported on its recent second Stonefruit Expo, which took place in late May in Bakersfield, California.
Stonefruit growers and marketers from five continents attended the event to learn about new varieties, marketing strategies and best production practices.
The Stonefruit Expo is part of Sun World’s fruit licensing programme, which involves more than 1,000 producers and leading marketing companies in most of the world’s major fruit-growing regions.
More than 40 international visitors toured Sun World’s Variety Development Center and commercial farms in California’s southern San Joaquin Valley, where they saw dozens of new and existing varieties including the company’s Black Diamond-branded plums, Honeycot-branded apricots and Amber Crest-branded peaches.
The group also received an overview of Sun World’s global licensing programme and participated in a technical review as well as a panel discussion on marketing distinctive stonefruit during a recession.
Growers, marketers and importers attended from Australia, Chile, China, South Africa, Spain and the UK, with a number of affiliated California grower-shippers also present during the two-day event.
'This year's Expo provided Sun World licensees from around the world to see the
very latest early season advances from our fruit breeding program and gave them an opportunity to share ideas about fruit production and marketing unique varieties and brands on a global scale,' the company's Variety Development Center director Terry
Bacon said.
Sun World’s stonefruit breeding efforts include a wide range of plums including several black-skinned, red-fleshed varieties marketed under the company’s renowned Black Diamond brand.
The group also manages a sizeable line of black-skinned, yellow-fleshed plums marketed under the Black Giant brand, a series of early-ripening apricots distributed under the Honeycot brand, and a line of early-ripening peaches and nectarines marketed under the Amber Crest and Super Star brands.
Sun World’s California-based Variety Development Center has released dozens of stonefruit varieties, many of which are grown and sold in series under private trademarks and brands.
These products complement Sun World’s line of seedless grapes which are produced and marketed under similar licensing arrangements around the world.
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