About Flavorfirst and our Testing and Licensing Program

As the Master Licensee for new variety releases from the Lassen Canyon Nursery’s (LCN) Strawberry Breeding Program led by Jim Bagdasarian, Head Breeder, we both test genetic material from this program in production regions outside of California, as well as partner with LCN to commercialize their new varieties in different regions of the US and Canada where their genetic material is performing well in field test trials.  Currently, we have 14 commercial nurseries with sub-licenses to propagate plugs and/or cut-offs of Lassen Canyon varieties in 5 states and 2 Canadian Provinces. 

From each sub-licensee we obtain reports on annual basis of the numbers of Ruby June plants sold, and then we serve to collect royalties due to the patent holder, in this case Lassen Canyon Nursery, which is based in Redding, California.  Of course, as Lassen’s Master Licensee, we also work to protect their patented strawberry variety from illegal propagation. 

Because Flavorfirst® is based in Virginia, a major focus of our variety and advanced selection testing program is in the South Atlantic Coast region where we conduct research grade field trials at one of North Carolina’s largest commercial strawberry plasticulture farms eastern North Carolina, Cottle Farms, Faison.  We feel that our field-testing program at this location is quite unique because of the opportunity we have been given to not only test new variety releases from various public breeding programs (e.g. UC-Davis, NC State, and Rutgers), but we also evaluate advanced selection material from proprietary breeding programs.  This season we are trialing a dozen advanced selections from the LCN breeding program that showed excellent promise in the 2020-2021 (we call these repeaters), as well as 110 of their newest advanced selections.  As we continue to expand our advanced selection testing program each year, we are very pleased to announce that California Berry Cultivars (CBC) has now joined our North Carolina field trial program in Faison. 

Flavorfirst® did not officially become the Master Licensee for Lassen strawberry varieties until March of 2020, but prior to that time I (Barclay Poling) had worked with the company as a consultant for several years to help them conduct trials for their 4 their new varieties released in 2014 (Lucia, Ruby June, Scarlet and Sweet Ann) at locations in Florida (Dover) all the way up to New England.  Of this original group, the variety that really caught traction was Ruby June (formerly ‘33K46’).  North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia were states where Ruby June performed especially well in series of field trials over four seasons (2014-2018), and from the time plants of Ruby June became commercially available to the industry in the fall of 2018, we have seen sales of this variety grow from less than one million plants in 2018-2019, to what we are projecting to be nearly 12 million plants for the coming 2022-2023 season.  

The “good strawberry flavor” of Ruby June’s is one factor driving the popularity of this variety, but several other marketing pluses of this variety are:  1) its attractive berries (good size, shape, and color), 2) excellent shelf life, 3) berries maintain bright red color even after being refrigerated, and 4) ease of picking.  In our advanced selection trialing program, we pay attention to both berry size and plant canopy characteristics (open vs. dense), as both traits influence harvest efficiency. Harvesting costs represent some of the grower’s highest costs, and varieties with good picking performance are essential to an industry wishing to satisfy a growing consumer demand for locally grown, pre-picked berries. In summary, we at Flavorfirst® are committed to the development and distribution of high quality, great tasting, and productive strawberry varieties with excellent picking performance.  We partner with a world class proprietary strawberry breeding program at Lassen to select genetic material for production regions such as South Atlantic Coast, where Lassen Canyon’s Ruby June variety is quickly becoming the new commercial standard. As Lassen’s Master Licensee we facilitate the licensing process for their newest varieties with a first-class network of propagators. We also have a systematic and organized method for collecting 100% of the royalty dues collected on these new varieties from the propagators within the Flavorfirst® network. 

Finally, we wish to note that at our field test location at Cottle Farms (Faison, NC), we annually host a Strawberry Variety and Advanced Selection Showcase each late April/early May – this is an “open” event with attendees coming from the Carolinas, Virginia, Mid-Atlantic region as well as a number of states in Midwest and Mid-America. These field days allow interested stakeholders to see and taste new varieties and advanced selections from both public and private breeding programs in the United States. Please click the link below for information about the field day program held on May 10, 2022.