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July 20, 2006
Source:
Truth about Trade
via Syngenta
Even for shoppers used to the riot of colorful fruits and
veggies in a suburban grocery store, a walk through the produce
aisle at the Harris Teeter supermarket in Mount Pleasant, South
Carolina, is a feast for the eyes. There are exotic fruits like
the kiwanos, with orange skin and white flesh that tastes of
banana, watermelon, and cucumber. The spiky fruits are so odd
that when they roll through checkout, even the cashiers can't
always I.D. them. But also piled high on the shelves are cobs of
corn with scarlet kernels that look like old-fashioned wild
maize. These are a modern take on so-called "heirloom"
varietals. The corn is custom-bred to have high levels of
anthocyanin, an antioxidant usually found in red wine and
blueberries. Down the way are some funny-looking artichokes --
purple, thanks to a similar enrichment with anthocyanin.
Innovation is sweeping through the farm sector, bringing
surprises that go beyond exotic fruits jet-shipped from the ends
of the earth. In many cases it is consumers who are influencing
produce breakthroughs, just as they forced agribusiness to take
organic food seriously. Years ago seed companies courted farmers
with new seed varieties that promised big harvests of veggies
that could stay fresh for seemingly impossible lengths of time.
Today's consumers are less interested in, say, rubbery tomatoes
that last forever on a shelf, and more attracted to healthful
produce that actually tastes good. Conventional hybridization,
rather than genetic modification, is the name of the game. Here
are some of the latest foods crafted to catch the eye and please
the palate.
GROWERS
Some 70% of the nation's lettuce is produced in the Salinas
Valley on the coast of California. Drive through the area, and
you'll see lettuce fields for miles in every direction.
Billboards celebrate the major producers, Dole Food Co. and
Fresh Express, which have deep pockets and a lock on many
supermarket shelves. It's the smaller growers, though, that are
carving out new niches by devising specialty varieties.
Stephen Griffin, president of Misionero Vegetables in Salinas,
knew the farm his father started would not survive selling bland
heads of iceberg lettuce. So last year, along with its organic
products and bagged salad mixes, Misionero started selling
Lettuce Jammers, a cross between a romaine and an iceberg,
created by Seminis.
The oversize boat-shaped leaf is extra durable, yet still
crunchy and tasty, so it can be used like a natural tortilla
wrap to hold hot foods such as chili or taco fixings.
Sometimes sold under names chosen by grocery stores, the lettuce
has been picked up by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Loblaws Inc., a
Canadian chain.
Another tack is to help shoppers select the freshest produce.
The deep grooves in Syngenta's Dulcinea Farms Extra Sweet Tuscan
Style Cantaloupe go from dark green to a golden cream color when
ripe. "You can't make a buck if you don't have something
distinctive," says Griffin.
RETAILERS
Designer products such as Colorful Harvest's carrots -- also in
red and yellow, thanks to added nutrients -- are a hit with kids
and moms and also help stores stand out. At Wild Oats Markets,
Don Harris, the chain's top produce buyer, has worked with
seedmakers and suppliers to create an exclusive organic broccoli
with a wider, deeper head than usual. Other stores are quick to
mimic. "Everyone catches up," says Harris, so Wild Oats is
always on the lookout for something new.
SCIENTISTS
These new fruits and veggies aren't being cooked up using
genetic engineering. Scientists employ older methods, such as
crossbreeding different varieties of the same plant, but with a
high-tech spin. To speed the time from lab to grocer,
researchers probe the DNA of different varieties to identify
traits such as color and taste and to find the fittest seeds to
crossbreed. It's still largely a process of trial and error and
can take 5 to 10 years to develop a salable product. Inspiration
comes from all quarters. Scientists at seedmaker Seminis Inc., a
unit of Monsanto Co., enhanced ordinary tomatoes by crossing
them with a rock-hard, pea-size wild green tomato from the
mountains of Peru that packs plenty of lycopene, an antioxidant
that gives tomatoes their deep red color. At Cornell University,
researchers mixed a naturally occurring orange-tinted
cauliflower with a traditional white variety to make an orange
cauliflower now sold by Seminis. The mellow hue appeals to
chefs, and it also boasts 25 times more beta-carotene than its
pale cousin.
Consumers are wary of genetically modified strains. In the U.S.,
the only major GM food crops are corn (used mostly for animal
feed and corn syrup), soybeans, and canola. In the '90s, Calgene
Inc. tried to sell Flavr Savr tomatoes, genetically altered to
ripen slowly, giving it a longer shelf life. But flavor and
quality are what it lacked, and it flopped. Still, the door
isn't closed. Scientists might some day take a gene from a
pepper and add nutrients to lettuce.
SEEDMAKERS
Producers of seeds used to focus mainly on what farmers wanted
to buy. These days, agri-giants such as Switzerland-based
Syngenta and Monsanto's
Seminis unit also seek input from grocery chains and shoppers.
The process can be a tough balancing act. Retailers such as
Whole Foods Market Inc. want eye-grabbing items to lure
shoppers. But the big distributors that supply fast-food chains
and packaged-food makers put a higher value on processability.
Seminis has floated the idea of a cylinder-shaped tomato that
could help fast-food chains reduce waste from slicing.
Consumers are invited to weigh in.
Syngenta grows new crops
and regularly convenes consumer panels to harvest preferences
directly from those who fill the shopping cart. Syngenta's
PureHeart watermelon is the result of trials showing that
consumers want sweeter, smaller melons. The PureHeart weighs
five to seven pounds -- a third as much as regular watermelon.
Syngenta is a world-leading agribusiness committed to
sustainable agriculture through innovative research and
technology. The company is a leader in crop protection, and
ranks third in the high-value commercial seeds market. Sales in
2005 were approximately $8.1 billion. Syngenta employs more than
19,000 people in over 90 countries. Syngenta is listed on the
Swiss stock exchange (SYNN) and in New York (SYT). Further
information is available at
www.syngenta.com |
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