Bakersfield, Calif. – Sun World International LLC has named Moonlight Sales Corporation, headquartered in Reedley, California as its newest licensee, enabling the Moonlight family of companies to access and expand Sun World’s renowned peach, plum, nectarine and apricot varieties along with marketing its premiere brands.
Moonlight is an industry leading California-based farming company specializing in product branding and retail merchandising strategies. It is owned by Russ Tavlan and his brother Ty Tavlan, who also manage the company’s growing, packing, marketing and distribution of product grown on its farm holdings. Moonlight’s primary focus is on high input, capital intensive peaches, plums, nectarines and apricots in the summer, along with oranges, lemons, mandarins and pomegranates.
The appointment follows recent decisions by Sun World to bolster its stonefruit breeding program and to expand its California presence by licensing its proprietary plum, peach, nectarine and apricot varieties to selected California grower-marketers. Moonlight joins three other California licensees and 22 companies worldwide who comprise Sun World’s stonefruit licensing network.
In addition to distributing stonefruit from new varieties developed by Sun World, Moonlight has been awarded a license to use Sun World’s brands, including BLACK DIAMOND®, HONEYCOT®, SUPER STAR® and BLACK GIANT® in the marketplace, Sun World Executive Vice President David Marguleas said.
“Sun World is excited about the opportunity to share its unique line of red and yellow-fleshed plums, aromatic apricots and flavorful peaches and nectarines with Russ Tavlan and the Moonlight organization. He brings vision and creativity as well as the commitment to quality and scale that retailers appreciate,” Marguleas said.
Sun World's fruit licensing program involves more than 1,000 producers and marketing companies in most of the world's major fruit-growing regions.
In addition to creating new and better tasting peach, plum, nectarine and apricot varieties, Sun World’s new variety development program focuses on a full range of fresh grapes with extraordinary characteristics such as enhanced flavor, distinctive taste, larger berries and clusters, earlier and later ripening times and availability, and increased productivity.
Sun World, a longstanding U.S.-based producer and marketer of fresh fruit, operates one of the world's largest table grape and stonefruit breeding programs. Since its inception in the mid-1970s, the Company's Variety Development Center has released countless varieties with improved flavor, size, color, shelf-life and extended seasonality. In addition to production on its own California properties, Sun World and/or its licensees grow these proprietary varieties in Australia, New Zealand, North America, Europe, South America, Israel and South Africa.
Sun World is a leading innovator in the research, production, distribution and promotion of fresh produce. The Company maintains integrated agricultural operations throughout central and southeastern California. More information about Sun World is available at www.Sun- World.com.
Source: Sun World
