A True Partnership | Driscoll’s

A TRUE PARTNERSHIP

“It is a sincere pleasure to work with Driscoll’s. We understand each other’s goals and work together to achieve them. Driscoll’s is to delight the consumer. AMC’s is to add value through service, versatility, and knowledge through distribution. Many of our values are similar - be humble, always look for ways to improve, be passionate about produce. We also both have an innate desire to see our teams succeed. We are extremely proud to have Driscoll’s as our partner.”

Damon Marano,

Chief Business Officer Anthony Marano Company

Research and Development

Driscoll’s is a pioneer of berry flavor and innovation with a dedicated research and development team focused on breeding proprietary varieties exclusively for their network of independent growers. Driscoll’s dedicated team of agronomists, breeders, sensory analysts, plant health scientists, and entomologists, work together to create:

sweet, fresh strawberries that are firm, but not too crunchy raspberries that are beautiful and juicy blackberries that burst in your mouth with juicy, sweet flavor plump blueberries that are flavorful, but not tart

Driscoll’s uses traditional breeding practices, such as cross-pollination, to ensure the highest quality for consumers.

Cross-pollination is the transfer of pollen from one plant to another. In the same way bees move pollen from plant to plant, Driscoll’s team of breeders move the male pollen from one plant to the female part of a different plant (the pistil). Cross-pollination is important because it allows two separate plants with desirable characteristics to parent potentially even better children plants. If one blueberry plant is robust and capable of surviving in various climates, and another blueberry plant has fruit that is especially delicious, the breeders can take the pollen from the first plant and add it to the second plant. The result is that some of the child plants will have the favorable characteristics of both parent plants. This process allows Driscoll’s to discover new varieties of berries using the same natural breeding techniques employed by farmers for thousands of years. By using this natural method, Driscoll’s never needs to irradiate or genetically modify their plants.

Matching berries for natural cross-pollination is a very big process. In any given year, Driscoll’s chooses the best plants and makes about 700 crosses. Each cross results in anywhere from 40 to nearly 300 seedlings. That means that in a single year, Driscoll’s has over 100,000 seedlings that could potentially become a new commercial variety in the future. 1 year 700

crosses

40 to nearly 300 seedlings 100,000 seedlings / yr

So how does Driscoll’s look at 100,000 seedlings to decide which ones will become the next great berry variety? They utilize many techniques to find the best of the best, including examining the genes of the seedlings to identify which will grow up to be the best plants. Then the seedlings that show signs of meeting Driscoll’s high standards go to a nursery to grow for a season. Of those, only the top one percent are chosen to move on to the next year for further analysis. During that year, data is collected about fruit yield, fruit size, shelf life, and initial flavor tests.

After that, plants move onto the “time of planting trial” where berries will spend three years being tested in different plots. During this time, Driscoll’s conducts berry flavor sensory panels to ensure only berries that meet their high flavor standards can become a commercial variety. By the time a berry is released, it’s usually been tasted several thousand times. The final stage is the “on the farm trial” where berries are tested in different climates for different types of growers. Driscoll’s also works with its pathology department to ensure plant health and to make sure that plants can grow in a variety of conditions. Only after a berry passes these rigorous tests will a berry get a name and become a variety that is ready for the market.

Although it can take many years to develop these quality varieties, they only have an average lifespan of approximately 3.5 years. This is due to the accelerated development of the Driscoll’s breeding program and the company’s ability to quickly identify strong, healthy plants that produce the best tasting and longest-lasting berries.

Every Driscoll’s berry must be flavorful, attractive, resistant to disease, and hardy enough to ship well and arrive fresh at the store.

Driscoll’s is dedicated to growing only the finest berriesTM, delighting the consumer and providing better life opportunities for their employees, independent farmers, harvesters, and grocer partners.

TM

Growing Practices

Every Driscoll’s berry begins life at the nursery. Driscoll’s nursery locations are carefully selected based on their geographic isolation. This isolation is important so that the soil is kept free of pests and diseases. Cuttings are taken from an original selected seedling and grown in the germ-free environment of Driscoll’s screen houses. From there, the seedlings are planted and grown in nursery fields, a process that can take several years. After the seedlings are harvested, they are carefully packed and shipped to coolers, where they are kept chilled so that the plants remain in hibernation. The Driscoll’s independent farmers pick up their seedlings just in time for planting.

Berries are grown outside in a dynamic biological environment. The farmers’ challenge is to work with nature, using years of experience and know-how to get the very best out of each berry plant. The goal of every Driscoll’s farmer is to shape, rather than control, the biological diversity of their fields, with a minimum amount of agricultural inputs.

Planting the berries is a delicate process and the correct timing is critical. Each row must be laid out so that it has exactly the right slope, to ensure that irrigation water will flow smoothly throughout the field. The length of the growing season depends upon the berry type, the plant and the climate of each unique growing region. For example, strawberries take 30 days to mature from flower to fruit. The berries are picked every three days, and the fields must be re-planted every year. Raspberry plants require re-planting every two to three years and blackberry plants require re-planting every five to six years. Blueberries are a deciduous fruiting plant and can live longer than 15 years before re-planting is necessary.

Each morning, our independent farmers pick up their clamshell containers at the cooler, hand-pick the berries in the field and return them to a nearby Driscoll’s cooler within hours. The berries are then tagged, inspected for quality and immediately placed into refrigeration tunnels to bring them to optimal storage temperature. It can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2½ hours to cool a pallet of Driscoll’s berries from field temperature to a chilly 33 degrees F.

Driscoll’s ships their berries as soon as possible after harvest, to make sure they arrive at their final destination fresh, ripe and delicious.

re-planting

every year

2 or 3 years

5 or 6 years

+ 15 years

Driscoll’s is the global market leader of fresh strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. Berries are grown with great care, hand-picked, and packed in the field ensuring the finest quality. With more than 100 years of farming heritage and hundreds of independent growers around the world, Driscoll’s is passionate about growing great-tasting berries.

Organic

Driscoll’s works with independent growers to delight consumers with delicious and organic berries. All farmers face the same challenges: nourishing their crops, controlling weeds, and protecting their plants from diseases and pests. Organic farmers respond to these everyday challenges differently, with agricultural practices that restore, maintain, and enhance ecological balance. The organic techniques Driscoll’s independent growers use manage soil health, weeds, and pests naturally, utilizing no synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, or other prohibited materials. Driscoll’s takes pride in protecting the land for generations to come, closely working with their independent growers to find new and innovative organic farming practices. This includes crop rotation, beneficial insect management and the use of cover crops and compost.

As the leader in organic berries, Driscoll’s works with certifiers, growers, and industry partners to grow the opportunity for organic berries in the marketplace. Driscoll’s independent farmers are certified organic by USDA-accredited certification agencies and recognized by their certification agency, the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF). Driscoll’s also works with external partners, like universities, to pilot organically-approved techniques that increase the health of the soil and reduce the instances of harmful disease in plants. This includes cover crops, crop rotation, composts, and pre-plant soil treatments such as anaerobic soil disinfestation and steam. The plant health team also, like a good doctor, determines what might be harming a plant before making a treatment recommendation to Driscoll’s growers and nurseries.

Beneficial bugs, like ladybugs and bees, are crucial for organic growers. Driscoll’s entomology team are experts in identifying opportunities that use predatory insects to keep pests at bay, spending a great deal of time in the lab researching the effects and benefits of bugs on the farm. Entomologists also evaluate the landscape and suggest practices that can increase biodiversity of the area. They share this information with growers and others in the industry to further collective knowledge on the subject. The introduction of additional native crops brings in more beneficial bugs which increase the resilience of crops without the use of synthetic inputs.

Driscoll’s organic farmers are dedicated to making sure their hand-picked organic berries are perfectly sun-ripened and meet the highest quality standards, ensuring maximum delight for berry consumers across the world.

Rainbow Pack™

TM

Driscoll’s Rainbow Pack™ offers three delicious berry types in one convenient pack. The blackberries have a rich, sweet, and complex flavor. The raspberries are the perfect combination of sweet and tart. The blueberries are deliciously sweet, plump, and juicy. The 7oz size is perfect for on-the-go snacking. Consumers no longer have to choose just one berry, they can enjoy all three side-by-side. It’s the perfect amount of blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries in one pack. Driscoll’s Rainbow Pack™ is packaged and distributed through the Anthony Marano Company.

Sweetest Batch™

In 2019, Driscoll’s launched a high-flavor segment of berries which offer unique, superior flavors. Driscoll’s Sweetest Batch™ berries are grown from small-scale, exclusive berry varieties that have particularly sweet flavor.

So what makes Sweetest Batch™ berries different than conventional?

They may look like your everyday berries, but Driscoll’s Sweetest Batch™ strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries come from varieties that perform consistently higher on Driscoll’s flavor and sweetness scales. Quality assurance mechanisms, like brix thresholds, have been put in place to ensure product consistency. Sweetest Batch™ berries also score higher in other attributes that are important to consumers such as higher juiciness, crispness, and less tartness. Sweetest Batch™ berries are a tasty treat that make berry moments more memorable, bringing natural and one-of-a-kind flavors to one-of-a-kind moments.