At the heart of Sun World’s business is an abiding commitment to developing new fruit varieties that can be grown in a sustainable way and optimized for yield, flavor, and appearance. That work is led by Sun World geneticists and plant breeders and is supported by a team of research associates, technicians and agronomists who develop best practices for increasing the quality and production of crops.
To fuel their important work, Sun World opened a Center for Innovation on a 160-acre campus near Bakersfield, CA. It features a 17,000-square-foot building with laboratories for molecular breeding, seedling transfers and post-harvest assessment, plus a large experimental research farm. Variety development to date has largely focused on grapes and stone fruit, but the future holds promise for the commercialization of adjacent fruit crops.