Agribusiness Report: Research yielding fruitful results

Photo / 123RF

T&G Global's Director Innovation & Technical, Peter Landon-Lane with David Hughes and the team from Plant & Food Research.

"As a country we aspire to a high income economy," says Gareth Edgecombe, CEO of T&G Global.

"To achieve this, we need to lift productivity — delivering more from scarce resources. At T&G, we're doing this by leveraging our intellectual property."

"Just like a2 Milk, Icebreaker, Allbirds and Zespri, T&G is being purposeful in creating and capturing value from its unique intellectual property.

"Throughout our 120-year history, we've developed and partnered with others to create valuable intellectual property — it's our genetics, our growing and production systems, our brands, our market access and our networks.

"At the heart of our global strategy is selecting and developing the best genetics to meet consumer and customer needs, with a real focus on apples, grapes and berries. Our recent partnership with Plant & Food Research is fully aligned with this.

"Earlier this year, T&G announced a partnership with Plant & Food Research to breed and commercialise new varieties of blueberries to be sold globally. We know there's strong consumer demand for blueberries, so by teaming up with Plant & Food, we can secure exclusive rights to premium blueberries with superior genetics.

"This will provide consumers with bigger, tastier year-round berries, which will have improved yields and resistance to disease."

Within T&G's global footprint and end-to-end supply chain, lies significant expertise and sources of valuable intellectual property.

"At the same time as partnering with Plant & Food, we teamed up with one of the world's largest berry growers, CarSol Fruit Export. This will enable the year-round supply and sale of high-quality berries into Asia," says Edgecombe.

"By combining CarSol's global expertise in blueberry growing and commercial experience, with our in-market sales capability and unique knowledge of the Asian market, we can significantly increase blueberry sales into Asia over coming years."

T&G's innovation, technical and category teams continually search the world for unique genetics and potential partners, which align with its strategy and augment its own strengths.

Its two protected premium apple varieties, which trade under the Envy™ and JAZZ™ brands, are sold in over 40 countries. Last year, T&G built an enviable premium position in the United States for Envy™, with sales revenues increasing by 43 per cent and consumers voting it the number one apple in the market. With its ability to maximise opportunities across its global network, the future growth potential of T&G's apple category is significant.

In the coming weeks, T&G, along with its Hot Climate Programme partners, will commercialise the first apple from an exciting pipeline of varieties which is bred to withstand the world's hottest and driest conditions.

"This world-class breeding programme is designed to specifically tackle challenges such as sunburn and firmness, which are associated with a warming climate. It'll ensure consumers can continue to enjoy crisp, tasty apples in the future, and that we deliver increased value to growers through unique IP," says Edgecombe.