Pitless Cherries and Seedless Blackberries
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
Gene editing advancements are enabling new approaches to crop genetics, but what will this mean for farmers? Pairwise CEO Tom Adams says two projects they're working on are pitless cherries and seedless blackberries. And he adds that this isn’t just for consumer benefit, but for producers as well.
Adams… “Our goal in cherries isn't just to make them pitless. We want to make cherry trees into bushes. So you could put them in hoop houses rather than growing them in the wild. So now you can grow them in areas where it rains in the summer. Because if it rains on a cherry orchard, all the cherries split and you lose your whole crop. So you could broaden, so rather than just having 11 weeks a year that you have cherries out of Eastern Washington, we have cherries all year round. So I think that's something that we expect we'll have done in 10 years from now you'll, that'll be what you get in the grocery store.”
This could both increase demand and change the supply landscape of the cherry business. Adams said they are looking at a similar dynamic in blackberries.
Adams… “We've been able to change the structure of the blackberry so that you can create a much denser growing system and increase the yields by 50 to a hundred percent. Turns out a blackberry isn't a seed, it's actually a pit. So the same technology, we're applying to cherries to make a pitless cherry and plan to make basically all the stone fruits, stone-less stone fruits, so we can eat them a lot easier and they fit into your life better.”
Learn more about gene edited fruits and vegetables at pairwise.com.
