BAKERSFIELD, CA - Since its inception a little over a year ago, Sun World Innovations, the technology and licensing arm of Sun World International LLC, has been making headlines, steadily acquiring new licensees, expanding the scope, and improving the function of its operations across the globe.
We tapped David Marguleas, President of Sun World Innovations, to see what makes the division so successful and such an integral part of Sun World’s operation.
“Over the course of the last 20 years, we’ve gone from having about 5,000 acres of Sun World varieties in production in California to having roughly six times that over the course of the last decade,” David notes. “Sun World grape and stonefruit varieties now sit on about 30,000 acres around the world.”
Sun World Innovation was established in December of 2015 with four key pillars, including:
- Fruit variety development
- Licensing
- International grape development and investment to ensure more reliable year-round supply
- Nurturing new ag technologies
“We have identified several opportunities in various southern hemisphere regions that excite us and that would enable us to meaningfully extend our supply capabilities,” David notes. “And, we’ve spent the past year assessing several new agricultural technologies on our own farms and elsewhere that we believe could have an important impact on our business.”
David notes that while market conditions have been amenable to growth in many of the company’s licensing regions, Sun World’s growth may be traced to the company’s proprietary varieties—their extraordinary consumer appeal and interest, “It all starts with the shopper and their desire for more flavorful fruit.”
“Our variety development efforts focus largely on fruit breeding and more specifically on developing better tasting, more productive varieties of seedless grapes as well as peaches, plums, nectarines, and apricots,” David explains.
The company’s process is, in a sense, as simple as supply and demand; provide delicious proprietary fruit to drive consumer demand, acquire licensees to meet burgeoning demand, and nurture new technologies, fruit varieties, and business relationships that best facilitate the company’s global operations.
David adds, “Many times retailers will encourage their producer-suppliers to plant our varieties to ensure they have reliable access to fruit supplies.”
And with 60 licensed marketers throughout the world, including from Sun World’s own California vineyards, retailers have plenty of companies from which to source Sun World stonefruit and grapes year-round.
For more on this and other exceptional produce companies, check in with us at AndNowUKnow.
