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Old May 6, 2013   #23
Boutique Tomatoes
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Northeast Wisconsin, Zone 5a
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fusion_power View Post
Hate to rain on the party, but you are all missing the most fundamental parts. How much time and effort went into developing the new variety? What benefits does it offer to the grower?

If I spend 8 years making complex crosses to introgress 5 disease tolerance traits into a fabulously good flavored tomato that looks and tastes like Lucky Cross, then I might expect more compensation than the average person who has a new tomato that happens to be round, red, highly productive, and decent flavored. In other words, I want to be paid for the sweat equity.

What about the benefits to the consumer? Would they pay a premium to get a fabulously pretty worry free tomato with fantastic flavor?

The simple reality is that no professional breeder can afford to develop a variety under the conditions given above. The time and effort involved simply can't be recovered from an open pollinated variety. This is why commercially developed tomatoes are all hybrids.

In the end, what you have to do is beat the Rutgers mafia. This is the group of OP tomato lines that are already available that have most of the traits being discussed above. You have to come up with a Green Zebra or something similarly novel and useful. Then you have to market it effectively.

DarJones
I'm thinking of niche/boutique varieties like Blush, Maglia Rosa, the new Tigers & Bumblebees that Fred/Mark have released. I think these do have good value for the grower & consumer, even if they were not bred specifically with disease resistance in mind. I have to believe that it's hard if not impossible to turn the work of creating these kinds of OP lines into a reasonable return.

I totally agree that if your goal is making money at breeding developing F1's is the only game that works.
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