For the uninitiated out there, can you describe Prevar™?

In summary, while Prevar™ is New Zealand-based, it is an international joint venture innovation company established to develop, protect and commercialise innovative apple and pear varieties and products.

More specifically, Prevar™ has global intent and capability, and manages, through its partners, the commercial breeding of novel apples and pears, the development and implementation of related underpinning science, the international testing of new selections, the management of intellectual property (IP) and the provision of pathways to market via licensing arrangements.

Commercial licences will be agreed with producers and fruit marketers, to grow and/or market new and distinctive apple or pear varieties. IP exists as plant variety rights or plant patents, technical know-how and trademarks.

How is Prevar™ set up operationally?

The shareholding partners in Prevar™ are Pipfruit New Zealand, Apple & Pear Australia Limited, Associated International Group of Nurserymen (AIGN®) and The Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Limited (HortResearch).

The new apple and pear varieties and products will result from a breeding programme established and operated by HortResearch, who are contracted to Prevar™ to provide the breeding services in accord with Prevar’s breeding objectives. HortResearch in New Zealand has a rich and very successful breeding history, and out of this have come some of the apple varieties that make up a large part of the apple basket of the world. Prior to Prevar™’s formation, this breeding programme has produced, for example, successful new apple varieties that include the Pacific series (Gala-Splendour crosses) and Jazz™ (Braeburn-Gala cross), that are being grown commercially throughout New Zealand, Washington (US) and in Europe.

AIGN® holds a master propagation licence with Prevar™, and is contracted to provide trial, propagation, quarantine, evaluation and IP management services.

Prevar™ seeks to work with other companies who understand intimately the end consumer and what drives their purchasing decisions, and who can build sustainable marketing strategies that enable premiums to be retained for as long as possible. AIGN® provides Prevar™ with global reach, with representation in all of the major apple and pear production regions of the world. This is a four-way joint venture; all shareholders bring different but complementary capabilities to the table. Not only does Prevar™ have a clear pathway to market, but we are also, in HortResearch, working with the pre-eminent apple and pear breeding and fruit research establishment in the world.

How are you going about achieving those objectives?

We have carried out considerable consumer research on a global scale, using very sophisticated market research tools to define our breeding objectives. We have asked questions such as: what is it that consumers value now, and what will they value in the future? Why do they currently buy apples and pears, and what improvements would they like to see in the fruit they eat? What are some of the purchasing trade-offs that consumers make; for example, flavour for convenience or flavour for health benefit?

These questions and many more have been asked and insights obtained. We are now better able to commercialise a preferred new apple or pear variety that meets consumer expectations in each of the major global consumer markets. As you appreciate, consumer wants and needs differ in every part of the world, and we have robust information that suggests strongly what the determining factors are behind purchasing behaviours. We are able to breed apples by selecting the traits to put into the progeny that match what consumers want.

We are not only developing a deeper understanding of consumer needs and market trends, but also an understanding of the commercial drivers of retailer and apple and pear product marketing companies.

There are 55 boxes that a new variety needs to tick before we are satisfied it has the potential to succeed in the market. We can decipher which markets each variety might fit.

When the varieties are ready for market, we will implement novel commercialisation strategies. We are starting to build up an understanding of how competitors are currently servicing, or not servicing, industry product needs.

What has been the main emphasis to date?

The main emphasis during the last couple of years has been to get Prevar™ up and running in New Zealand and Australia; we are only just starting the licensing process outside the Australasian commercial theatre at the moment; the real effects will be felt in the years to come. We have already licensed some excellent new selections that I am confident will eventually prove successful internationally.

It is an expensive and lengthy process to get a new apple to market, and we will not release an apple until we are certain it is ready. One of the challenges is to accelerate both the breeding and commercialisation processes. It can take 10-12 years to develop a new selection to trial stage, and at least 20 years before a variety establishes itself fully in the marketplace. A new variety has to offer something special, and we are not interested in releasing something that does not come up to premium status.

From the outset though, we have taken a broad commercial view, not a New Zealand-centric perspective. Through AIGN®, we have access to people who know fruit and trees on a global scale. They already have the experience of licensing branded fruit, and they have the insight that dictates who we should be talking to, where we should place ourselves commercially, etc.

At the moment, in Hastings, there is only me, but I am working with a board of directors and AIGN® members that have an immense amount of experience to draw upon, and they also legitimise my claims that Prevar™ will be international.

What are the key attributes you feel the supply chain and the consumer are looking for in a new variety?

We are looking for fruit that provides a consistently high-quality eating experience and requires minimum growing intervention. Pest and disease resistance are obviously important. Once you get to market, appearance, storage and shelf life are clearly crucial. In general terms, consumers are increasingly going down the red and pink routes, but there is room for other fruit colouration and shape options. But our understanding is that taste is key, and that is what keeps consumers coming back for more.

What varieties have you released so far?

In 2005, we released Sweetie™ Prem1A cv, an attractive, large, and earlier maturing apple that ripens slightly before Royal Gala in New Zealand. Good flavour, texture and fruit size make Sweetie™ a very good replacement for Royal Gala and Gala varieties. Later that year, we also released Maxie™ and Crispie™, new pear cultivars that offer a refreshing combination of European flavour and Asian ‘crunch’ appeal.

And in May this year, we announced the commercial release of a new golden-coloured apple variety that will be available on New Zealand supermarket shelves within the next two years. The Royal Gala/Braeburn cross is exclusively licensed for the local market, to family-owned fruit company Johnny Appleseed Holdings Ltd. The variety is protected through a plant variety right under the denomination name PremA153, but also has a trademarked fruit name that will be released at a later date. We have also entered into licence option agreements with New Zealand-based fruit companies for five other apples and a pear; more information will be released in due course. The process of licensing Australian-based fruit companies for these selections has also commenced this year. We have had many visitors from northern- hemisphere companies. Many have invested in trialling the new selections.

Has the business moved as quickly as you would have liked?

Yes, I think it has, but of course we always are searching for improvements in the way we operate. The initial emphasis has been on targeting the right people to build relationships with, and promotion of the IP. But we know that the best talking is done by the new fruit varieties themselves, and the excitement they will generate. We consult with and listen to a lot of potential investors, as we recognise that from there on in, they will have to put a lot of money in to get the new varieties to market.

Prevar™ recognises that we will ultimately only be successful if we can make our varieties available 12 months a year. All selections will first be made available to New Zealand and Australian growers, and there is a timeframe that will allow those two industries the time to introduce the fruit into the marketplace before anyone else.

We haven’t really earned our pedigree yet. But there is a huge commitment behind Prevar™.

The company financial forecast model rolls out to 2025, and consists of an annual plan and a three-year rolling plan. We have set out long-term breeding themes, and while there is always an element of following the market, we also want to make the market. Of course, I’m a little impatient, but we are all in it for the long haul. I’m still out there promoting Prevar™. I have spoken at events around the world, and received visits from commercial interests from around the world. I think the level of interest has been pretty much as we expected.