In the one hand, they are deliciously creamy, versatile and gloriously Instagrammable.

While it has not see the explosive trade growth as some other popular fruits like blueberries, mandarins and avocados, global table grape imports have been rising at a steady pace over recent years.

The big seed companies and their genetically modified seeds and crops have been in the news a lot lately.

This season a common theme in the global tomato market is increasing pressure from viruses such as the ToBRV, as well as continued abnormal weather patterns and rising production costs.

As many countries around the world face serious labour shortages more and more fresh produce companies are looking at ways to reduce their demand for labour be it during harvesting or in the post-harvest process.

Richard Lawrence is head of gene editing, yield, disease, and quality research at Bayer, based in St Louis, US. The views expressed in this guest commentary are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of AFN.