Press release

Ohalo® announced the formation of the Ohalo Strawberry Consortium, a collaboration with strawberry industry leaders that aims to revolutionize strawberry breeding, making better-tasting strawberry varieties available for the first time ever as truly uniform true seed.

Utilizing Ohalo's proprietary hybrid plant breeding system, the Consortium's non-GMO strawberry varieties will be offered as true seed to strawberry farmers worldwide, broadening availability and driving adoption to expand the global strawberry market, while improving the sustainability and economics of strawberry farming.

"We are thrilled to partner with these leading strawberry growers, packers, and marketers to bring more flavorful, sustainable, and economically valuable strawberry varieties to market as true seed in the years ahead," said Dave Friedberg, CEO of Ohalo. "With these partners, we can more quickly realize our vision of transforming the strawberry industry, benefiting farmers, retailers, consumers, and the planet."

Seeding a New Era

Traditionally, strawberry plants are propagated vegetatively in nurseries; runner shoots are cut and planted, many times over, to create the plants that are eventually transplanted into the field. This process can take years to complete, driving up costs and increasing operating complexity.

The proprietary hybrid breeding system developed by Ohalo eliminates the need for vegetative propagation by producing uniform strawberry seed. For the first time ever, truly uniform seed can be planted to quickly germinate field-ready strawberry seedlings.

This transformational system will reduce time, cost, and pesticide use, improving production economics for strawberry nurseries and farmers, while creating a more sustainable farming system.

Breeding a Better Strawberry

Strawberry breeding for the Consortium will be led by the world's leading strawberry breeder, Dr. Phil Stewart, known in the industry as 'Dr. Strawberry,' who has joined Ohalo after more than 17 years at Driscoll's, most recently leading global strawberry breeding.

"For years, consumers have been begging for strawberries with more flavor all year long; retailers have been seeking more consistent fruit quality and better shelf life; and farmers have been struggling to maintain higher yields while dealing with disease pressure, mounting production costs, and labor shortages," said Stewart. "These competing priorities have forced trade-offs, reducing flavor, shelf life, or yield to benefit other stakeholders. With our hybrid breeding system, we will quickly deliver radically improved strawberry varieties that offer better outcomes for the entire value chain."

Traditional strawberry breeding can be slow and uncertain, with each generation producing unpredictable results as offspring are produced as random combinations of their parents. Ohalo's proprietary non-GMO hybrid breeding system allows for precise and perfectly predictable outcomes, accelerating the breeding process and reliably improving varieties with each generation. 

With improved breeding speed and truly uniform hybrid seed, the Consortium expects its first varieties to be in field trials next year, with commercial availability to follow shortly after.

Open Access

Unlike traditionally closed breeding programs, the Ohalo Strawberry Consortium aims to make its strawberry varieties broadly available as true seed to growers and industry partners globally — ensuring that farmers everywhere, regardless of size or region, can benefit from the advancements in improved varieties and efficiencies from uniform hybrid seed.

Industry Leadership

Bringing together a powerhouse lineup of industry leaders — including BlazerWilkinsonGee, California Giant Berry Farms, Central West Produce, Crown Nursery, Naturipe Berry Growers, Wish Farms, and others — the Consortium partners have committed substantial resources to supporting industry transformation.

"Partnering with Ohalo made perfect sense," said Gary Wishnatzki, Owner of Wish Farms. "As an innovation leader, we were thrilled to join forces with Ohalo and like-minded strawberry businesses to help accelerate change in the industry."

With its groundbreaking shift to true seed, the Ohalo Strawberry Consortium is paving the way for more productive, resilient, and flavorful strawberries, benefiting farmers, packers, retailers, and consumers. The future of strawberries starts now.