Ohalo launches a strawberry breeding consortium with growers, aiming to sell strawberries grown from true seed

Ohalo Genetics/Boosted Breeding potatoes

Ohalo formed a strawberry breeding consortium with major growers including Naturipe, Wish Farms and California Giant, led by Driscoll's former breeder Phil Stewart. The consortium aims to develop uniform varieties sold as true seed rather than cloned runners, reducing production time, cost, disease pressure and pesticide use.

• Members include Naturipe, Wish Farms, California Giant, Crown Nursery and Central West Produce
• Led by Dr. Phil Stewart, former Driscoll's chief breeder, using Ohalo's proprietary hybrid breeding system
• True seed advantages: eliminates multi-year runner propagation, reduces costs, pesticides and disease pressure while addressing labor shortages
• Field trials expected next year with commercial availability shortly thereafter