UK: AG Thames plants exclusive agreement with stone fruit breeder
Through its innovation arm, Newstairs, the Kent based fruit supplier has joined forces with Burchell Nursery Inc to solely import, manage and develop all Burchell varieties throughout Europe and North Africa.
The planting, propagation and marketing agreement will bring a number of new and innovative varieties of peach, nectarine, apricot, cherry and plum to the market.
Director of Newstairs, Ben Clapham, commented: “This is a wonderful example of how we can streamline the supply chain and bring the latest, greatest and most consistent varieties of stone fruit to our growers’ orchards and our customers’ shelves.
“We recognised this opportunity as a way for AG Thames to be at the forefront of bringing innovation to our grower and customer base.
“With over 30 years of stone fruit breeding and three generations of nursery and farming know-how, Burchell is well versed in creating quality stone fruit that focuses on depth of flavour, consistency and strong shelf life.”
The agreement follows AG Thames’ investment in an exclusive planting, breeding and marketing agreement in the Northern Hemisphere for the Oz series of peach and nectarine, and adds to its commitment to offer a strong varietal range of good eating stone fruit all year round.
Ben Clapham continued: “Working in conjunction with master nursery Pepinieres Escande, Newstairs has Burchell varieties already on trial in Europe and we expect to see commercial plantings as early as 2015.”