Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/61297
Verbrugge said his experience with club varieties has shown that it takes a certain critical mass, in terms of vol- ume, to achieve consumer recognition in the marketplace. Sage has two managed varieties—Sonya and Breeze— both from New Zealand. It has purchased the marketing rights to several other varieties that are at the testing stage. "It takes a large amount of time and money to build demand for a variety," Verbrugge said. "And that's one of the struggles we've seen with the club varieties. It makes it tough to be successful if you don't do that." The whole idea behind managed varieties was that the licensee could control the quality and control the market and pricing, but since there are now so many available in the marketplace, they are competing with each other. "I can control the price of Sonya, but the retailer can say, 'I can buy Jazz cheaper.' They become competitive with each other," said Verbrugge, who is nonetheless still looking for exceptional new varieties. "We feel like we need to be doing that," he said. "We're still making sure we're investing in and looking at varieties and club varieties—making sure we have control over them because it does create excitement in the marketplace." Great name For Verbrugge to be interested, the variety must have a great name, along with all the right quality attributes. Other shippers agree that a new variety would have a better chance of success if it was marketed under one name. Wolter said if the variety was going to be a small-vol- ume item to sell in a few markets around the country—so that marketers wouldn't be competing against each other—it might be possible to have multiple names. But if it is going into large-scale production, having multiple names would make it challenging and confusing. "Having the right name is huge," Sand said. "Who could have come up with a better name than Honeycrisp? And when they came up with Red Delicious, it was a great apple, but it had a great name." • Keep the Gears in Motion CALCIUM 6% Adequate calcium is critical to maintaining the integrity of your crop. Apply FOLI-GRO CALCIUM 6% to your fruit and vine crops to keep the plant vigor in motion with proper balance of nutrients. Pasco, WA | 509.545.9329 Wenatchee, WA | 509.663.8753 Yakima, WA | 509.248.6171 Rainier Fruit Company is focusing on promoting Junami before taking on other managed varieties. www.goodfruit.com For information only. Not a label. Prior to use, always read and follow the product label directions. Wilbur-Ellis, Ideas to Grow With and FOLI-GRO are registered trademarks of Wilbur-Ellis Company. K-0312-176 GOOD FRUIT GROWER APRIL 15, 2012 17