Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/529491
www.goodfruit.com GOOD FRUIT GROWER JULY 2015 17 New peach trees are grown using a vase shape. "If you have a 10-year-old block of stone fruit, it looks ancient because of how fast the industry is changing," says Daniel Jackson. Family Tree Farms workers straighten out drip irrigation lines in a new peach orchard. The operation has 5,000 acres in California's Central Valley as well as 1,000 acres of blueberries in both Mexico and Peru. Andy Muxlow and his son Jonathan look at cherries and nectarines in the test orchard. flavorful fruit. He also conducts research into fruit conditioning, shelf life, and handling practices. "Eric has done a tremendous job—this is his baby," Jackson said. "He's just taken pride in it, and it's beautiful out there." Out of Wuhl's program have come myriad plumcots, apriums, and other plum-apricot hybrids as well as apricots, cherries, plums, and white-fleshed and yellow-fleshed peaches and nectarines. Each Friday during the season, field staff and others attend a tasting of potential new varieties at the research center. "Maybe it doesn't fit the part, but when you bite into it, it just knocks your socks off," Jackson said. "We try to fit those in, but they still have to be able to be profitable." Four to five times a year, about 20 pro- duce buyers are invited to the R&D center for Flavor Tech University, said Dovey Plain, marketing coordinator. After a tour of the research orchards and discussions on fruit handling, participants get to taste some of the up-and-coming varieties. "We love to do this because they are buy- ing in and it creates ownership—they almost become partners," she said. "They sway our opinions as farmers, because flavor is subjec- tive. And it becomes less of a price discussion on the sales desk." Plain has made that experience portable with what she calls "R&D in a Box." She'll send about 15 retail customers at a time a box with a plastic knife, a plastic cutting board, a few pieces of fruit from the R&D orchard, and a questionnaire. The goal is to have them sample the fruit and provide feedback. By offering unique varieties retailers can call their own, it also helps them stand out in the cluttered grocery environment, Plain said. •