New Apple ‘WA 64’ Gets Help Before Big Launch

Washington State University has named International New-Varieties Network LLC (INN) of Ephrata, WA, the exclusive global licensing partner for its new apple ‘WA 64’.

Experienced in introducing new fruit varieties worldwide, the company will manage sales of licensed ‘WA 64’ trees and budwood to growers for planting or grafting in orchards, as well as license the new apple’s forthcoming trademark to fruit packers and marketers. The new apple is expected to reach consumers in 2029; its name has not yet been announced.

“The license agreement is the latest step in a decades-long process to commercialize a new apple,” says Jeremy Tamsen, Director of Innovation and Commercialization for WSU’s College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences.

Selected by WSU through a competitive proposal process, INN is a network of more than a dozen companies in the U.S., Chile, France, Italy, China, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa that offers tree fruit propagation, commercialization, and distribution globally.

“All three services are necessary to protect the hard work that went into breeding and selecting this cultivar in Washington,” Tamsen adds. The company was chosen for the strength of its proposal, business position in the marketplace, and experience bringing new varieties to market.

A hybrid of ‘Honeycrisp’ and ‘Cripps Pink’ — one of several cultivars sold as ‘Pink Lady’— WSU’s new ‘WA 64’ apple is tart, firm, sweet, and juicy. Selected for the fresh market, the apple has outstanding eating and storage qualities.

The result of a cross-hybridization made in Wenatchee, WA, in 1998, ‘WA 64’ was selected for further evaluation at private and research orchards. The university officially released it in 2023 and launched a public naming contest for the apple last spring. The winning name of the new apple is expected to be announced by the end of the year.

For more on this topic, continue reading at news.cahnrs.wsu.edu.