“Two are about flavor, including sugar and acid content, and the different preferences people have-such as those who like sweet and those who like tangy. “The experience of an apple is five things,” he said. “This apple,” Barritt said, “was developed to make consumers happy.” According to Barritt, picking a winning apple involves the slow accumulation of data. Cosmic Crisp® apples are grown in central Washington where the climate offers the best apple-growing region in the world. As a bonus, it is not genetically modified. Moreover, the WA 38 variety, sold under the Cosmic Crisp® trademark, is one of the first apples bred in Washington state. public university, and one of only three in existence. Today, the WSU apple-breeding program is still the youngest one at a U.S. Within three years, the industry had planted over 11.5 million trees and invested over half a billion dollars in the effort. Growers requested 4 million, which led to a drawing system for allocating the first available. Voilà – the rest is history!īy 2017, nurseries started with 300,000 WA 38 trees. The tree, with its siblings, was planted at WSU’s Columbia View Orchard where it produced its first fruit for evaluation. In spring, the seedling was transferred to the nursery where it grew until September 1999. A year later, seeds were germinated and raised in a greenhouse. In 1997, he made the Enterprise-Honeycrisp cross that resulted in the WA 38. Next, Barritt had to convince WSU to change his position so he could begin the apple-breeding program. He also sought the backing of the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission (WTFRC), which had funded many other research projects.īarritt drafted his proposal, and finally, industry funding came in to help lay the foundation for the WSU apple-breeding program. Undeterred, Barritt continued to lobby for funding from WSU and the Washington state apple industry. Initially, growers and industry partners resisted. He also proposed starting an apple-breeding program at WSU. Barritt warned industry partners about depending too much on a single star apple and recommended developing new varieties. The Red Delicious, however, seemed to have exhausted its day in the sun. “Apples that came to represent what an apple was supposed to be.” “There were huge trees planted far apart that almost exclusively grew Red and Golden Delicious,” he said. Barritt was studying Washington orchards at the Washington State University Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center in Wenatchee. It all started in 1981, the year Lady Diana married Prince Charles, Raiders of the Lost Ark played in theatres, and John DeLorean released his DMC-12, the iconic Back to the Future car. ![]() Notably, waiting for test trees to mature and produce fruit takes such a long time that the 22 years that passed while the Cosmic Crisp® WA 38 moved from cross to launch was considered quick. Twenty-plus years after horticulturist Bruce Barritt took pollen from the Honeycrisp and placed it on the stigma of the Enterprise to produce seed, boxes of the WA 38 hybrid apple will arrive in grocery stores nationwide this December. Meet the Cosmic Crisp, the apple that’s changing Washington’s apple industry. The Cosmic Crisp® demonstrates how the science of breeding and the art of imagination can come together to make a new star apple. Researchers, tree fruit growers, and industry partners from Washington state collaborated to develop and promote the Cosmic Crisp® WA 38 cv.-an apple that will have a “cosmic” effect on the world. This is a story about how one amazing apple sweetened the bunch, and how a bunch of individuals created one amazing apple. ![]() Faculty/Staff Outstanding Service Award Nomination.Brotherton Cougar Spirit Award Nomination.Gibson Distinguished Volunteer Award Nomination.Pullman ASWSU Student Memorial Brick Plaza.
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