Sunflare: Washington State’s Climate-Ready Apple Aims to Redefine the Industry

Washington State University researchers unveil Sunflare, a new apple bred from Honeycrisp and Cripps Pink to taste like Cosmic Crisp but with greater resilience to heat, storage, and weather volatility, part of an effort to safeguard the U.S. apple industry amid climate change and global markets; Sunflare will be planted this spring with a decade-long grower exclusivity and reach stores in 2029 after a lengthy breeding and licensing process that also faces tariff- and market-related challenges.