The fresh apricot market has been struggling in recent years, due to the challenges of packing and shipping the soft, fragile fruit that develops its best flavor when tree-ripened. In Washington alone, bearing acreage is down almost 20 percent since 2007.Could the solution be new genetics?Brandt's Fruit Trees plans to release a new program of about a dozen apricot cultivars with great flavors and good fruit size from breeding programs in Fiance and Canada — including orange-skinned, red-skinned and white-fleshed varieties — that it hopes will be a good fit for Northwest growers.
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