Two new cherry varieties, developed in Summerland, will be introduced to global markets.
The Sansia and Safirah cherries, developed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s sweet cherry breeding program, will be launched by World Fresh Exports Inc.
“This is an incredibly exciting moment for us,” said Sarah Bistritz, global sales and operations manager for World Fresh.
“These cherries represent the very best of Canadian breeding and production,, and we can’t wait to share them with our global customers.”
The Sansia series comprises two mid-season dark sweet cherry varieties. They harvest around the same time as Bing cherries.
The Safirah series consists of two late-season dark sweet cherry varieties, providing cherries beyond the Staccato and Sentennial cherry varieties.
A fifth dark sweet cherry variety is yet to be named.
“These new cherries continue a remarkable Canadian breeding tradition,” said Nick Ibuki, business development manager at Summerland Varieties Corp.
“World Fresh has an outstanding reputation for marketing premium cherries, so we’re delighted to see them introducing these exceptional new varieties to global markets as an authorized marketer.”
Summerland has had a strong cherry breeding program in place since 1968, when the Stella cherry, the world’s first self-fertile cherry, was developed.
Today, around 80 per cent of cherries around the world have some heritage linked to Summerland, Ibuki said.
He added that new cherry varieties tend to be larger, firmer and last longer than earlier varieties.