MORGAN HILL, CA - Strawberries are in your future. Well, they should be, for Sakata Seed Corporation has officially entered the strawberry business. The company will start an activity to commercialize F1 seed strawberry varieties suitable for greenhouse cultivation in the near future.
“As a global seed company based in Japan, Sakata Seed Corporation has developed and supplied a variety of new vegetable and flower products to the market. For strawberries, which are very popular fruit in the world, we are developing F1 seed strawberry that combines the delicious flavor of Japanese strawberries with improved disease resistance and transportability,” Tomoji Nakai, Senior Executive Officer, Senior General Manager of Overseas Sales and Marketing Division, commented. “Through these new varieties, we aim to reduce the burden on producers and the environment impact, and to stimulate demand for high-quality strawberries and expand the market. By combining our breeding, supply chain, sales, and product development teams that we have strengthened until now, we aim to become the world’s leading strawberry seed company.”
Praised for their delicious flavors, Japanese strawberry varieties are also characterized by their softness, which creates issues when it comes to shelf-life and transportability. Diseases that are likely to cause problems during cultivation vary by region, noted the release.
Sakata Seed Corporation began planning strawberry breeding in 2016 and started it in 2018. The company aims to breed strawberry varieties that balance outstanding flavor with disease resistance required in areas where they are grown. In 2017, Sakata Seed Corporation won permission to sell seeds and seedlings of Yotsuboshi, an F1 seed strawberry developed by Mie, Kagawa, and Chiba Prefectures along with Kyushu Okinawa Agricultural Research Center. Sakata sold it mainly in Canada and the United States, gaining insight into the demand in each region.
The company is also working to develop F1 seed strawberry varieties (ever-bearing) that can be raised from seeds, with trial production on a global scale already in progress.
Delve further into the production through the report here.
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