EU: Sweet Sensation makes great strides towards year round availability
distinguishing characteristics of this pear.
A special Variety Platform is being designed for the roll-out of the promotional activities for Sweet Sensation. Variety Platforms for club varieties fall under the Global Fruit Platform Foundation.
Licensed Varieties Editors BV (LVE) is the founder of the Global Fruit Platform Foundation. The foundation was developed to facilitate transparent collaboration amongst representatives of the international licence holders with the aim of protecting the interests of the various stakeholders as much as possible and maintaining a worldwide product standard. Victor Eijkman of LVE said: “LVE exploits the plant breeders’ rights of Sweet Sensation and issues the licences for this club variety, while facilitating mutual cooperation between its licence holders.”
At the Fruit Logistica a license agreement has been signed with Evrosad d.o.o. Krško, Slovenia, for the production of Sweet Sensation. After a test planting, the final newly planted hectares Sweet Sensation in Slovenia will be discussed in 2015. These pears will be sold in Slovenia and Croatia.
The largest acreage of newly planted Sweet Sensation trees in Europe can currently be found in Italy, but trees have also been planted in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and the UK. The first crops in the southern hemisphere will be harvested in Argentina this February. It will still take a few years before large volumes of Sweet Sensation are available all year round. In addition to current developments in Chile and South Africa, the first steps have been made towards setting up commercial operations in Australia with 200 hectares of Sweet Sensation trees. More tees will soon be planted in New Zealand, Canada, Turkey and the Far East.
LVE also launched the new brand identity of Sweet Sensation at the Fruit Logistica, which will feature a revamped logo, a new slogan and a marketing campaign illustrating the distinguishing characteristics of the pear. Victor Eijkman continues: “The new brand identity will support the strong Sweet Sensation concept that offers added value not only to growers, but also to the retailers and consumers.”
The Global Platform is responding to the growing volumes of Sweet Sensation by organising additional activities currently focused on the exchange of knowledge and optimum collaboration between the various licence holders. Victor Eijkman concludes: “Factors such as continuity in supply and standardisation in terms of quality, taste and image all contribute to creating added value for a strong club variety. We and all the other sales organisations have come to the conclusion that club varieties such as Sweet Sensation have become a fixture on the international fruit market. We expect the position of these varieties to take an increasingly prominent position on shop shelves.”
For more information:
Suzanne Labots
The Greenery
Tel: +31 (0)180 64 87 35
Mob: +31 (0)6 129 07 132
www.thegreenery.com