Key Takeaways:
- Sun World International and Pairwise announce joint venture focused on specialty fruit
- Initial project centers on developing a pitless cherry with exclusive commercial rights for Sun World
- Partnership combines Sun World’s breeding expertise with Pairwise’s Fulcrum® platform
- Sun World to make strategic investments to support development
Sun World International Expands Innovation in Specialty Fruit
Sun World International has entered into a joint venture with Pairwise to collaborate on specialty fruit, beginning with the development of a pitless cherry. Under the agreement, Sun World will have exclusive commercial rights to the genetics, positioning the company for a first-to-market release.
The collaboration builds on Sun World International’s history of consumer-focused innovations, including seedless table grapes, seedless watermelon, easy-peel mandarins, and seedless lemons.
Pairwise Partnership and Fulcrum® Platform
Pairwise brings its Fulcrum® platform to the partnership, which accelerates the development of crop traits compared to traditional breeding methods. The company has previously developed the world’s first seedless blackberry, demonstrating the platform’s capacity for consumer-focused outcomes.
“Sun World has built one of the most successful commercial pipelines in fruit genetics,” said Dr. Tom Adams, CEO of Pairwise. “Combining that expertise with the precision and efficiency of Pairwise’s Fulcrum platform allows us to address unmet consumer and grower needs in a way that hasn’t been possible before.”
Statements from Leadership
Bernardo Calvo, CEO of Sun World International, highlighted the consumer benefits of the new initiative. “Our focus has long been on offering truly differentiated genetics to our growers with exceptional new traits, flavors, texture and convenience,” he said. “Developing a high-quality pitless cherry is a natural innovation evolution for us and in Pairwise, we’ve found an extraordinary partner already well down this quite complex path.”
