PMGC the new Chilean cherry breeding project
19 May 2023
For Macfrut 2023 it was an honour to host Prof. Marlene Ayala of the Catholic University of Chile, the head of the main genetic improvement project for cherries started in 2010 in Chile..
Alejandro Navarro Diaz, general manager of IVU - International Varieties Unlimited LLCA presented the new cherry varieties marketed under the MEDA® brand at Macfrut 2023.
"Our origin," says Navarro, "goes back more than 50 years when Marvin Nies, a Californian who has dedicated his entire life to creating new cherry varieties, started selecting material essentially from Bing to exploit its benefits and produce earlier varieties. His experimental orchard in California was a marvel: it was 80 acres and each tree was practically a different variety.
Since 2009, having reached an agreement with Marvin, Navarro and his research team have started breeding work on a number of varieties he has produced during his lifetime. "They are the fruits," Navarro continues, "of fruitful cross-breeding work on cherry trees, a passion that has moved Marvin throughout his life and which has resulted in the work that International Varieties Unlimited (IVU) has developed together with his family and a group of leading companies in the production and marketing of cherries worldwide.
The ability and joint work of everyone has helped to achieve valuable results. "Our selection of MEDA® varieties," Navarro concludes, "is bearing fruit and will continue to do so in the future, as Marvin has left us a great legacy to select and develop in different parts of the world."
Below, exclusively for Cherry Times, is the IVU report presented at Macfrut 2023.
