Less than a year after assuming the position of CEO of the largest berry company in the world, the CEO of Driscoll's, Soren Bjorn, is totally focused on continuing its mission of producing the best possible berries. To achieve this, it is increasingly necessary to focus research and development efforts on creating berries that can withstand the impact of climate change.

Bjorn took the helm of the $3.000 billion company in January, but the Dane has been with Watsonville-based Driscoll's since 2006. He previously served as president of the company's U.S. division, senior vice president of international business and global technologies and head of the company's North American business unit. Bjorn got into the fruit business shortly after graduating from college in Texas, working with a company that specialized in tropical fruits.

As a director of a global company working with farmers around the world, Bjorn is acutely aware of the serious impact climate change is having on operations, from sparking wildfires to rising temperatures and the arrival of new diseases. and plagues to new regions. Those realities are shaping the company's research and development efforts, which have been critical to Driscoll's since its first patented strawberry variety was planted in the early 20th century. Today, these efforts are not only focused on creating better-tasting berries (although that is always in the foreground), but also on creating more resistant berries that can withstand sudden changes in temperature, are more efficient in using water or even more resistant to certain diseases.

“How does our genetics manage to make them more resistant?” asked Bjorn. “How can we make them more efficient in changing conditions and create more resilient berries?”

Soren Bjorn, CEO of Driscoll's, in Cassin Ranch, Watsonville. Credit: Kevin Painchaud/Lookout Santa Cruz

Those are just some of the questions Driscoll's research and development teams are hard at work on, especially at the Cassin Ranch facility in Watsonville. The company is also leaning on new AI and machine learning technologies to help with things like forecast models for different regions and seasons. It recently acquired technology from Alphabet's now-defunct agricultural startup Mineral. That adds to the work being done by geneticists who are identifying markers of resistance to certain diseases, among other efforts. Bjorn said the company has already established 90% resistance in its berries to certain diseases.

Combining this genetic research with the types of predictive AI models that the company is starting to use is a game changer, Bjorn said: “I think that type of technology is what is going to help the most in dealing with the impacts of change.” climate".

While AI helps, biology and genetics are at the heart of it, as teams cross different breeds and varieties of berries to create new hybrids and then wait for them to grow.

“We develop the cultivars, that's a lot of what happens here, and then we grow the plants, which are then delivered to the growers,” Bjorn said on a recent summer morning while walking through the rows of blackberry plants at Cassin Ranch in Watsonville.

The Cassin Ranch is the heart of the company's operations, where biologists and genetic scientists work to create the perfect berry for different conditions. A recent success, for example, has been the perfection of a thornless blackberry bush that produces large, dark purple berries about the size of an adult thumb, bursting with juice but tough enough to withstand packaging and shipping to the stores. Removing thorns from the plants has reduced the amount of protective cover those picking the berries must wear, Bjorn explained, and speeds up the time it takes to pick them.

Driscoll's does not grow the berries it sells, but rather works with some 900-1.000 growers in more than 20 countries, many of them small independent operations. These producers manage their own workforce. Growers who work with Driscoll's get exclusive rights to grow Driscoll's berries (the specific strains/varieties of blackberries, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries that the company has developed). Those berries are packaged and sold under the Driscoll's name in more than 70 countries. Driscoll's sells raspberries, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries in three product lines: organic, conventional and what is known as Sweetest Batch, a line of extra sweet berries.

In Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, Driscoll's employs up to 1.000 workers or more depending on the season, including its R&D teams, sales and employees who work in the fields where the company develops its own berries.

Soren Bjorn, CEO of Driscoll's, holds blackberries at Cassin Ranch in Watsonville. Credit: Kevin Painchaud / Lookout Santa Cruz

The company also operates cultivation and research facilities in other parts of the country and around the world; For example, blueberries grown in warmer areas like Peru have different requirements than those grown in California or the United Kingdom.

Although Driscoll's does not own the farms it works with, Bjorn said the company works hard to ensure its producers meet high quality standards, food safety standards and legal requirements around, for example, labor issues. He acknowledges that is more difficult in some developing countries, where the company has to work more closely to ensure compliance with the law. Some critics have argued that Driscoll's is not doing enough to ensure that the farms it works with are practicing fair labor standards or reducing pesticide use. In fact, local advocates have criticized the company for not taking tougher action against pesticide use near schools in the Pajaro Valley.

“We are always interested in the opinions and comments of our community members,” Bjorn said. “Pesticide use, including distance to schools, is closely regulated by the California Department of Pesticide Regulations; It is up to scientists and regulators to determine whether those regulations should be changed.”

Bjorn believes technology and innovation will also be key to reducing pesticide use, and said that's part of the company's “More Berries, Less Resources” initiative.

“We are collaborating with universities like UC Santa Cruz and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to develop non-chemical solutions to combat pests and diseases,” he said. “On the domestic front, we are making enormous progress in discovering berry genetics, developing varieties that are more resistant to pests and diseases and will therefore require fewer pesticide inputs.”