Pete Van Well (left) and Alessio Martinelli of CIV, Italy, admire the color of Rubens apples in Wenatchee, Washington, just before harvest. Rubens, a new apple variety from Italy, will be commercialized in North America in a novel way that is designed to reduce the risk for producers and to maximize returns. Rubens is the trade name for a variety called Civni, which was bred by a consortium of nurseries called Consorzio Italiano Vivaisti in Ferrara, Italy. The cross was made in 1984, and the variety was released in Europe in 2000. The first test trees in Washington State were […]