"Yes. In the fruit crops we have breeding programs in apples, grapes, strawberries and blueberries. In the last year, Zestar! apples - a tasty, juicy, early-season variety - have become available to Minnesota consumers. Trees of SnowSweet apples became available in 2006. This is an October apple with a rich, sweet flavor, and a firm, snowy white flesh.

"In addition to the apples, Marquette grape was introduced in 2006. This grape makes a spicy and complex red wine. It joins previous recent wine grape introductions Frontenac (1996), La Crescent (2002) and Frontenac gris (2003), which have formed the basis for a rapidly expanding local wine industry in the upper Midwest.

"The Itasca strawberry was introduced in 2006. It’s an early June variety that can be planted by local strawberry growers and gardeners.

"The University has also developed several disease-resistant lines of potatoes in the past and has three or four new varieties that will be released in the next year or so. These varieties are resistant to cold sweetening, which causes potato chips and French fries to turn dark colored and have bitter flavor. Two of them—currently called 'MN 99380-1' and 'MN 15620' - have yellow flesh, which is important for antioxidant activity, total phenolic content, and increasing Vitamin C."

Jim Luby, professor
Christian Thill, associate professor