Latest addition to Fall Creek Collection has 45-day shelf-life, and yield potential exceeding 20 tonnes per hectare
Fall Creek Farm and Nursery has unveiled the latest addition to its Fall Creek Collection platform after what it described as an extended period of commercial-scale evaluation and grower adoption across multiple production regions.
“Apex (FCM14-057) fills a defined gap in the Collection platform: an early- to mid-season option combining fruit quality, shelf performance and sizing consistency that today’s blueberry export and retail channels demand,” the company said. “The variety joins a portfolio built on regionally adapted genetics with proven field credentials, now three years in market as an open licensing program available to blueberry growers in zero- and low-chill production environments.”
The new variety launch arrives at a moment of growing demand for early-season blueberry supply consistency. As retail programmes work to extend premium blueberry availability across the calendar, varieties that combine shelf-life, sizing reliability and flavour in an early- to mid-season window are increasingly difficult to source at scale.
According to Fall Creek, Apex’s agronomic characteristics, confirmed through commercial field performance, include firm fruit with a shelf-life of up to 45 days; large, consistent berry sizing aligned with export and retail grade specifications; an early-to mid-season harvest window; yield potential of more than 20 tonnes per hectare, and flavour attributes that support repeat consumer purchase.
“Fall Creek Collection exists to give growers access to blueberry varieties that perform where it counts, in the field and through the supply chain,” said chief commercial officer Paul Nselel. “Apex earns its place in the Collection platform because it delivers on both counts. Growers who have been working with this blueberry variety know what it can do, and this launch gives them a stronger foundation to build around it commercially.”
Paul Sandefur, vice president of research and development at Fall Creek said the new variety represents what continuous trait improvement looks like in practice. “The combination of shelf-life, fruit size, and yield potential in an early to mid-season window is not easy to achieve,” he explained. “What makes Apex significant from a breeding standpoint is that these traits hold across diverse production environments, and that breadth of adaptability is what earns a blueberry variety a place in Fall Creek Collection.”
With Apex now formally part of Fall Creek Collection, the variety is available through the company’s global licensing network. Commercial activation will focus on importers and retailers across key importing markets, building awareness of the Apex name and supporting pull-through demand as the blueberry variety scales.
Fall Creek Collection is one of two distinct programmes through which the breeder brings advanced blueberry genetics to growers globally. “Together with Sekoya, it reflects a single company committed to expanding what is possible across chill requirement profiles, delivering regionally excellent varieties with documented field performance,” Fall Creek said.
