Ohalo® announced the formation of the Ohalo Strawberry Consortium, a collaboration with strawberry industry leaders that hopes to revolutionize strawberry breeding, making better-tasting strawberry varieties available for the first time ever as truly uniform true seed.
"We are thrilled to partner with these leading strawberry growers, packers, and marketers to bring more flavorful, sustainable, and economically valuable strawberry varieties to market as true seed in the years ahead," said Dave Friedberg, CEO of Ohalo. "With these partners, we can more quickly realize our vision of transforming the strawberry industry, benefiting farmers, retailers, consumers, and the planet."
Strawberry breeding for the Consortium will be led by strawberry breeder, Dr. Phil Stewart, known in the industry as 'Dr. Strawberry,' who has joined Ohalo after more than 17 years at Driscoll's.
"For years, consumers have been begging for strawberries with more flavor all year long; retailers have been seeking more consistent fruit quality and better shelf life; and farmers have been struggling to maintain higher yields while dealing with disease pressure, mounting production costs, and labor shortages," said Stewart. "These competing priorities have forced trade-offs, reducing flavor, shelf life, or yield to benefit other stakeholders. With our hybrid breeding system, we will quickly deliver radically improved strawberry varieties that offer better outcomes for the entire value chain."
Bringing together a powerhouse lineup of industry leaders — including BlazerWilkinsonGee, California Giant Berry Farms, Central West Produce, Crown Nursery, Naturipe Berry Growers, Wish Farms, and others — the Consortium partners have committed substantial resources to supporting industry transformation.
"Partnering with Ohalo made perfect sense," said Gary Wishnatzki, Owner of Wish Farms.
For more information:
Ohalo
www.ohalo.com