Fall Creek Farm & Nursery Inc.’s PeachyBlue ZF08-029 blueberry variety has delivered outstanding retail results at Sprouts Farmers Market stores nationwide, driving a 6 percent increase in total blueberry category sales during the summer promotion and ranking among the top 1 percent in sales dollars compared to other niche and innovative items at Sprouts this year. This achievement highlights the impact of a direct partnership between Fall Creek, Twin River Berries and Sprouts, demonstrating how close collaboration from breeding to shelf can deliver measurable returns for growers, retailers and consumers alike.

The PeachyBlue program, which began with a pilot in Northern California in summer 2024, quickly expanded nationwide in response to strong consumer demand. In 2025, PeachyBlue was promoted in more than 400 Sprouts stores, featuring front-door merchandising and active sampling. The variety’s total sell-through rates matched the entire berry category, underscoring its appeal and commercial success.

“This ‘seed to shelf’ collaboration is a first for us in the berries category,” said Jason Glunt, senior category manager at Sprouts. “Working directly with the breeder has inspired new ideas for finding unique, first-to-market products.”

The journey began in 2023 when Sprouts team members visited Fall Creek’s trial site during the annual Field & Forum event, where PeachyBlue’s distinct white peach flavor caught their attention. This meeting led to a direct collaboration with Twin River Berries, a vertically integrated grower-marketer known for quality and sustainability. Twin River was among the first to trial PeachyBlue on a commercial scale, supplying Sprouts with berries from Oregon Berry Packing and a Washington grower partner. For East Coast stores, introductory volumes were provided by Consalo Family Farms.

Key factors in PeachyBlue’s retail success included effective communication across the supply chain, a clear understanding of each participant’s role and a focus on flavor. The partnership has evolved beyond a single promotion, with ongoing efforts to support year-round supply, improved merchandising and future plans to further grow PeachyBlue’s presence at retail.

For growers, the collaboration highlights the value of partnering directly with breeders and retailers to bring innovative varieties to market. “PeachyBlue’s commercial success has helped reopen discussions about investing in new genetics, showing that the right variety, backed by retail partnership, can deliver measurable returns,” said Ben Escoe, CEO of Twin River Berries.

Looking ahead, Fall Creek is prioritizing breeding for traits that balance on-farm economics with consumer preferences, aiming to create a feedback loop that benefits growers, retailers and shoppers alike.

"PeachyBlue’s success at Sprouts demonstrates how close collaboration between breeders, growers, and retailers can deliver real advantages for consumers," said Val Shepler, commercial manager for the U.S. and Canada at Fall Creek. "By prioritizing flavor and quality alongside grower economics, we’re able to introduce varieties that offer shoppers a truly unique eating experience."