Proprietary Variety Management, a new company helping to commercialize  two new red-fleshed apple varieties developed by Bill Howell of Prosser, Washington, is using a different strategy from how varieties have been introduced in the past. The company’s general manager John Reeves said the value chain starts with the breeder, goes through the nursery, grower, packer, and marketer, and finally reaches the consumer. Everyone has an investment in a new variety, but the breeder and the grower are by far the most heavily invested. In the past, if a breeder found an interesting variety, he or she would take it to […]