Sun World International, LLC was established in early 1976 as a packer and marketer of fresh fruits and vegetables. Throughout its initial decade, the Company was a leading producer and marketer of a wide range of commodities such as carrots, leaf lettuce, asparagus, green onions, sweet corn, cherries, cantaloupes, citrus, dates and strawberries.

Sun World formed numerous marketing alliances and ventures with major fruit and vegetable growers and packers around the state. And, it built, acquired or managed packing facilities in locations such as Thermal, Coachella, Indio, Irvine, Vista, Santa Barbara, Reedley, Orange Cove and Lodi.

Early in the 1980s Sun World assumed management of (and acquired an interest in) a mammoth Salinas Valley-based lettuce company called Interharvest which was subsequently renamed Sun Harvest. After a year of labor unrest and difficult lettuce market conditions, the Company (and its joint venture partner United Brands/Chiquita) closed the Sun Harvest operation and subsequently reorganized Sun World. At about the same time, Sun World began expanding its farming and packing activities on Orange County's Irvine Ranch, handling some of the country's finest asparagus, strawberry, orange and avocado production.

The mid-1980s were active times at Sun World. It exited the commodity vegetable business and plunged into farming, packing and marketing an extensive collection of specialty branded produce and deciduous fruit. Consumption of fresh fruit and vegetables was on the rise and consumers were increasingly seeking better tasting, more convenient produce.

In response, Sun World developed a series of relationships with various research and academic organizations around the world and set out on its quest to improve the flavor, color, texture and overall quality of specific fruits and vegetables. Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Company introduced more mainstream branded fresh produce items to the marketplace than any other agricultural company, including a sweet red pepper (1983), the seedless watermelon (1988), a long shelf life vine-ripened tomato (1990) and the BLACK DIAMOND® plum (1992). And, in December 1989, Sun World dramatically transformed itself with the purchase of Kern County agriculture giant Superior Farming Company. With the acquisition came more than 40,000 acres of prime central California farmland, the world's foremost fruit breeding program and such popular items as the SUPERIOR SEEDLESS® grape, the AMBER CREST® peach and the BLACK DIAMOND® plum.

In February 2005, Sun World was acquired by entities managed by Black Diamond Capital Management L.L.P., a private investment company based in Greenwich, Connecticut.

The Company operates one of the world's largest fruit breeding programs and has extensive farming and packing operations in southern and central California. An innovator in the rapidly changing agriculture industry, Sun World enjoys particular strength in farming and promoting unique produce varieties with improved flavor, size, color, seasonality and overall fruit and vegetable quality.