New Zealand-based top-fruit licensing firm Prevar™ Limited has several new products in the pipeline, ready to be rolled out later this year and over the next few years.

The firm has already unveiled apple varieties PremA17 and PremA153 in the last 12 months, and chief executive Dr Brett Ennis promises plenty more to come over the next few months.

PremA17 is an early-season, crisp bi-coloured apple with excellent storage and shelf life, and is licensed exclusively to New Zealand company T Seventeen Ltd, which has nine shareholders that collectively between them export greater than 80 per cent of the NZ crop. PremA153 is a golden Royal Gala/Braeburn apple cross licensed to family-owned fruit company Johnny Appleseed Holdings Ltd, which already operates the Yummy brand on the local New Zealand market.

Ennis insists that although Prevar is based in New Zealand and its major shareholders are from New Zealand and Australia, Prevar is a company with global licensing ambition that is looking to licence its varieties in the northern hemisphere.

“We have 25-30 apples on trial around the world and 15-20 pears,” he added. “AIGN, who is also a Prevar shareholder, have all these selections on trial throughout Europe and other parts of the northern hemisphere. We are receiving very favourable results and expect to start commercial discussions with prospective partners in the near future”.

Ennis added that “Prevar shareholders believe that the Plant & Food Research [formerly named HortResearch] breeding programme is world-class”.