He said 100 hectares of Red80 licence would be made available to growers in 2026, including through a cutover pool for those existing Red19 growers wishing to bid for a licence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking forward to continuing to work with growers to provide our consumers with even more great-tasting and high-quality red kiwifruit, with Red80 expected to reach commercial volumes in 2028, helping deliver strong value for all of our RubyRed Kiwifruit growers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The decision to commercialise Red80 follows the doubling of Zespri RubyRed kiwifruit volume in the 2025\/26 season, with more than 3 million trays sold across key markets including New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Mainland China, Taiwan, South Korea and the USA.<\/p>\n
Te Brake said the decision reflected Zespri\u2019s commitment to producing new cultivars that would help Zespri maintain its market position as leaders of the kiwifruit category and maximise value for New Zealand growers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a proud history of innovation, which has set us apart from our competitors, and today\u2019s decision is another example of the ongoing work our industry undertakes to meet the needs of our global consumers and deliver strong value to our growers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Competitive category<\/p>\n
Te Brake said the kiwifruit category was increasingly competitive, with customers wanting a consistent supply of the full kiwifruit portfolio, whether that was Zespri Green, Zespri SunGold, or Zespri RubyRed.<\/p>\n
He said red kiwifruit naturally tended to be shorter-storing than green and gold kiwifruit, so Zespri currently had a limited sales window of around eight weeks. <\/p>\n
Zespri chief executive Jason Te Brake.<\/p>\n
\u201cRed80 harvests a bit later than our existing Red19 cultivar and stores for longer, with the two varieties working together to keep Zespri RubyRed in front of consumers for longer, building awareness, encouraging habitual purchase, and lifting demand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the commercialisation of Red19 in 2019, commercial volumes of Zespri RubyRed kiwifruit were first sold in 2022, with the fruit extended to new markets each year to a current presence in 13 around the world.<\/p>\n
Te Brake said Zespri RubyRed was a unique, vibrant red kiwifruit with a sweet berry taste and nutritional benefits that set it apart from SunGold and Green. <\/p>\n
\u201cSince the variety\u2019s launch, it has attracted new and younger consumers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur research shows around 30% of people who purchase Zespri RubyRed are new to kiwifruit, so it brings more people into the category and creates additional opportunity for our other products.\u201d<\/p>\n
Breeding partnership <\/p>\n
The Kiwifruit Breeding Centre was established in October 2021 by Plant & Food Research and Zespri to take their 30-year relationship of successful kiwifruit breeding to the next level. <\/p>\n
With about 45 staff, the centre is based in Te Puke, and operates out of Kerikeri, Motueka and Mt Albert. <\/p>\n
The centre is jointly funded by Zespri and Plant & Food Research, now part of the Bioeconomy Science Institute, a New Zealand Government-owned Crown Research Institute.<\/p>\n
The organisations share royalties from any future commercialised new varieties.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson said the Kiwifruit Breeding Centre specialised in developing innovative kiwifruit cultivars through cutting-edge, evidence-based breeding strategies.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur process begins with insights from Zespri, identifying global market opportunities for new kiwifruit varieties. <\/p>\n
\u201cFrom there, we define the ideal combination of traits needed to meet Zespri\u2019s high standards \u2013 balancing the future needs of consumers, growers, and the supply chain.\u201d<\/p>\n
To achieve this, the spokesperson said the Kiwifruit Breeding Centre often needed to generate new knowledge or technologies. <\/p>\n
\u201cOnce target traits are identified, we tap into our extensive parental population to select the best candidates for crossbreeding. <\/p>\n
\u201cSeeds from these crosses are collected, catalogued, and germinated to produce thousands of seedlings \u2013 our next generation of potential cultivars.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsing advanced DNA marker technology, we screen these seedlings early, selecting only those with the most promising genetic profiles.\u201d <\/p>\n
Selected seedlings are planted at high density and undergo a rigorous, multi-year evaluation process. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe assess growth, pest and disease tolerance, and fruit quality using tools like near-infrared scanning and routine quality checks.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He said 100 hectares of Red80 licence would be made available to growers in 2026, including through a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[11231,138,3088,2082,23361,70487,23553,3331,111,139,69,158109,158110,8466,39711,19862,61,36986,57095],"class_list":{"0":"post-283231","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-boost","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-commercial","11":"tag-for","12":"tag-growers","13":"tag-joining","14":"tag-kiwifruit","15":"tag-launch","16":"tag-new-zealand","17":"tag-newzealand","18":"tag-nz","19":"tag-red80","20":"tag-rubyred","21":"tag-second","22":"tag-stable","23":"tag-supply","24":"tag-to","25":"tag-variety","26":"tag-zespri"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}