Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 7622 / SEEDWORLD.COM FEBRUARY 2017 affect this memorable eating experience — that’s texture and flavor. If we don’t achieve one or both of those, we don’t release a variety.” Bedford’s favorite example of an apple that doesn’t meet par is Red Delicious. When he started his job nearly 40 years ago, few apples rose above its quality in terms of texture: apples, then, were gen- erally divided into two categories, “soft/ mealy” and “hard.” Of the two texture attributes, the latter was preferable, but with Honeycrisp a third category was added: crisp. All of the apples since have been bred to Honeycrisp’s new standard. When it comes to flavor, Honeycrisp raised the bar again with its complex sweetness. In new apples, Bedford looks for high levels of sugar and acid — an apple that has both will be pleasantly complex. He also looks at aromatics, the presence of volatile chemicals that actu- ally change the way an apple tastes. Even with the most advanced conven- tional breeding techniques at his disposal, Bedford says it’s still extremely difficult to breed an apple with desirable eating qualities and production characteristics. His program looks for about 20 char- acteristics in every apple, ranging from aroma to tree form to winter hardiness. Any apple released must rate high on all 20 scores. Of the original crosses Bedford and his colleagues develop in the lab, only one in 10,000 typically makes it to supermarket shelves. “Putting the genes of two parents together, everything changes — you don’t get to say, ‘I’ll keep 19 characteristics and change just one characteristic.’ It’s like a Rubik’s cube — every time you flip one char- acteristic, the others change too,” he says. DNA sequencing means breeders can line up an apple’s background genet- ics prior to making crosses, but they still don’t know how those genes will be expressed until they see and feel the fruit. “Now what that means is we make smarter crosses, and in theory we’ll have a better percentage — instead of one in 10,000, maybe we’ll have 1 in 5,000,” says Bedford. “But the bar for what makes a good apple is constantly being raised. Apples I throw away now would have had potential to be released 15 to 20 years ago.” Bedford is encouraged by the new focus on flavor in the fruit industry; it sig- nals a sea change in the qualities consum- ers value. “When Honeycrisp was introduced, no one thought they’d pay 30 percent or more for it, but the price has held and the volume has gone up,” he says. “That’s really very encouraging for me as an apple breeder — the public recognizes different levels of quality.” In a new research greenhouse, tomatoes go through a rigorous evaluation prior to being commercially released. “Market data shows that consumers are willing to pay more for products that resonate with their values, and products they deem have superior flavor.” — David Liscombe Consumer Trends Consumer trends are at the heart of the shift in breeding priorities across the horticulture industry. Stakeholders are beginning to rec- ognize consumer willingness, in certain demographic categories, to pay more for better products, says Carol Raithatha, a fellow at the Institute of Food Science and Technology in England and consult- ant in sensory evaluation. She’s worked on projects involving a variety of fruits and vegetables, including apples, avocados and potatoes, using panels to compare sensory profiles of different cultivars or varieties and con- ducting research to understand con- sumer preferences. “In general there is more segmenta- tion in the market, probably as a result of retailer efforts to offer greater choice and add value through differentiation,”