Red Sun Farms, Heritable Agriculture and CIV partner to accelerate the future of indoor strawberry innovation

Red Sun Farms, Heritable Agriculture, and Consorzio Italiano Vivaisti (CIV) are proud to announce significant progress in their collaborative effort to develop the leading indoor grown strawberry at the Vineland Research Station facility. This partnership combines CIV’s deep expertise in strawberry genetics and germplasm, Heritable Agriculture’s advanced AI-driven breeding models and Red Sun Farms’ indoor growing excellence to revolutionize how premium strawberries are bred and grown.

"At Vineland, we’re proud to be at the forefront of horticultural innovation by combining world-class research, advanced technology and industry collaborations to deliver premium, sustainable strawberries to the consumer," said Ian Potter, president and CEO, Vineland Research. "It's been incredible to see this research come to life and be validated directly through customer feedback."

By leveraging AI simulations to predict crop performance, the partnership is streamlining breeding timelines and optimizing key traits for greenhouse efficiency. This approach allows the team to bring high quality, innovative strawberry varieties to market faster — varieties designed with growers, consumers and the environment in mind.

"We’re bringing AI solutions to indoor growers, beginning with greenhouse strawberries," added Davide Sosso, CSO at Heritable Agriculture. "This work is setting a new standard for strawberry flavor and quality, which is precisely why retailers were here this week to learn more."

Heritable Agriculture’s predictive AI technology generalizes across species, environments and traits, making it adaptable to nearly any agricultural operation. When paired with Red Sun Farms’ vertically integrated model and CIV’s world-leading breeding capabilities, this collaboration represents a new benchmark in indoor fruit innovation.

A key differentiator of this initiative is the early involvement of eight retail partners representing more than 8,000 North American store locations. By bringing retailers into the breeding process from the beginning stages, the project aligns real consumer insights and market needs with cutting-edge technology — ensuring the varieties developed are optimized not just for performance, but for taste, texture and shopper appeal.

Retail partners joined the research team at the Vineland for an exclusive first look at more than 110 strawberry breeding lines currently in development. Through guided sensory evaluations, partners provided valuable feedback that will help shape the next phase of selection and innovation.

“For CIV, this collaboration represents an important step in turning our genetic research into tangible value for the entire supply chain,” said Federico Stanzani, general manager of CIV. “Providing our germplasm and integrating it with Heritable’s predictive models, Red Sun’s cultivation expertise and the research capabilities of Vineland Research allows us to accelerate indoor breeding, optimize key traits, and develop varieties capable of excelling in greenhouses from the earliest stages. This synergy between advanced genetics, artificial intelligence, and precision growing not only demonstrates technological potential but also delivers concrete results for growers, retailers, and consumers, creating strawberries that are ready to meet market demands.”

"We are entering a new era of produce development where we no longer have to choose between yield and flavor. This partnership brings together the four critical pillars of modern agriculture: advanced genetics, predictive AI, precision growing and direct retail feedback. By aligning these forces from day one, we are creating a feedback loop that has never existed before,” said Paul J Mastronardi, business development and account manager. “We are effectively reverse-engineering the perfect strawberry based on what consumers actually demand, ensuring that when these varieties hit the shelf, they are already proven winners."

As the project advances, Red Sun Farms, Heritable Agriculture, CIV and Vineland remain committed to driving sustainable, technology-enabled innovation that enhances quality, productivity and flavor for the strawberry category.