Modesto, California
June 19, 2006

Harris Moran displayed its latest varieties of melons and watermelons recently during trials in Yuma, Arizona.

About 100 customers attended the two-day event at JV Farms, braving the desert heat.

Between-rows, customers touched, squeezed, sliced, cut, and tasted everything from new Italian-sutchered cantaloupes to Crunchy Red watermelon, fresh cut adaptable.

“They came to look at diversity,” said Meir Peretz, HM product manager for melons and watermelons. “

They’re looking for something exciting to complement the usual and ordinary.”

Harris Moran breeders were on hand to walk them through each variety: benefits, features, disease resistance, and taste.

Highlighting the trials were:

• Navigator cantaloupe: Excellent flesh color, great flavor, very sweet, attractive appearance – a good fresh, cut melon.
   

• Summer Dew: Newest honeydew. Crunchy flesh to the bite. Very sweet. Good for fresh cut.
   

• Crunchy Red: New watermelon with brilliant red color. Crunchy flesh. Super sweet. Good for fresh cut. Mas Rico cantaloupe: Companion to Oro Rico. Small cavity. Firm flesh. Sweet, excellent flavor. Winter Dew honeydew: Mid-early, thick flesh, firm flesh, very sweet, large fruit, fresh-cut adapted.

“They’re looking for flavor, sweetness, and color in the melons. And I think they found what they were looking for,’ said Peretz. “It was a very successful trial. You can tell the customers appreciate the work Harris Moran is doing as a melon company.”

Harris Moran is part of the largest independently owned seed company in the world. It is owned by Groupe Limagrain, a cooperative owned, run, and operated by farmers.