Okanagan Specialty Fruits founder buys back company

Neal Carter has regained ownership of Okanagan Specialty Fruits (OSF), the company he co-founded 30 years ago.

The B.C.-headquartered company behind the nonbrowning Arctic apple was bought by Intrexon Corp. in 2015—the same year the first two Arctic apple varieties were approved for commercial production in the U.S. and Canada. It was then sold to another corporate buyer in 2020. 

On June 22, Carter bought the business with plans for employees to assume partial ownership.

Carter plans to bring in other investor capital to continue to grow the company in due course, OSF said. 

“It’s exciting and humbling to regain ownership of OSF on this momentous anniversary,” Carter said in a press release. “We see the acquisition as a chance to plot a course that maximizes our experience and the genetic advances of recent years while opening opportunities for significant new investment and crop development partnerships.”

OSF said it will be announcing its first “big genome-edited product” later this year.

The company’s four Arctic varieties include Golden, Granny, Fuji and Gala. Arctic Honey and Arctic Pink, are awaiting FDA approval and commercialization. 

Carter and his wife, Louisa, founded OSF in 1996.

Based in Summerland, OSF operates a 1,250-acre orchard and a 110,000 square-foot processing plant near Moses Lake, Washington. It also has a 3,000 square-foot laboratory and 2,000 square-foot greenhouse in Saskatoon.

OSF employs 150 people in 12 cities across North America.