It's All in the Genes

Like every living thing, plants have genes that reveal what characteristics they might develop. Similar to how a child of two parents with brown hair will most likely grow up with brown hair, Berry Innovators can predict the characteristics of certain berries by knowing their plant genes.

Berry Innovators in the genetics department can look at the fruit genes by testing their DNA. This allows them to make educated predictions about what traits they’ll have, such as flavor or color. In a season, Berry Innovators may have 100,000 plants to examine. By looking at a plant’s genes, Berry Innovators screen them when they’re still seedlings before they ever produce a fruit. The Joy Maker team can test up to 30,000 seedlings in a single month! That means they can predict which berries have the traits that reflect both the preferences of consumers and the demands of growers (without having to eat 30,000 full-grown berries!)

Berry Innovators can identify all sorts of traits including disease resistance, flavor, color, and plant architecture. For example, Driscoll’s consumers have stated they enjoy strawberries that contain a hint of peach flavor. Berry Innovators can screen through thousands of seedlings and identify all the plants capable of producing a peachy flavor.

Avoiding GMOs

One of the great things about using natural cross-pollination is that Driscoll’s berries are never genetically modified. Everything the Berry Innovators do is like traditional plant breeding of crossing one plant with a different plant. The science of genes, however, allows the Berry Innovators to more efficiently figure out which plants will produce the best results.