IFG committed to dynamic performance in grape category
September 30, 2020 | The Producer News
The recent launch of new grape varietal logos by International Fruit Genetics has helped the Bakersfield, CA-based breeder improve clarity in a category where differing names for the same fruit often persist. “It’s a prescriptive approach,” explained Andy Higgins, CEO of IFG. “Let’s clean it up to help all involved understand what we're offering, and consumers know what they’re buying.” The program is intended to provide value for all involved, with IFG providing graphic files and logo use guidelines, and placing it in the hands of growers and marketers to bring them forward.
“If you go back 40, 60, 80 years, typically the table grape world has always been represented as a commodity, as far as what consumers can choose from,” said Higgins. “Certainly driven by Thompson Seedless, which was introduced in 1894. We didn’t see a lot of innovation until the 1970s when seedless breeding came to the forefront.” According to Higgins, from that point on much of the effort was focused on creating improvements to Thompson and the seedless category at large. That early work, continuing into the last two decades was focused largely on what could be considered grower channel attributes such as yield, storability, and berry weight.
