S&W Seed Company announced it has received a trademark for the use of the brand name Kandi Leaf stevia.
The trademark will be applied on S&W's unique stevia lines bred for enhanced flavor characteristics and marketed for the fresh and dry leaf market, in which S&W currently has two unique stevia varieties—'SW 201' and 'SW 227'.
S&W's stevia focus is on developing varieties with unique, enhanced characteristics, providing added value along the entire supply chain.
As previously announced, S&W has applied for patent protection with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO) for 'SW 201' and 'SW 227', and has also applied for patent protection with the USPTO for two unique stevia varieties for the commercial processing market—'SW 107' and 'SW 129'.
Mark Grewal, chief executive officer of S&W Seed Company commented, "Following years of research and development success, our stevia program is laying the foundation for commercial-based production contracts, royalty agreements and other R&D collaborations, as we await our patent protection being granted by the USPTO.
“The trademark for Kandi Leaf follows our earlier trademarking of 'Stevia California' as we look to brand and market S&W's stevia development and commercialization program through the introduction of unique varieties.
It is our intention to build a portfolio of proprietary stevia varieties that we believe can add value at the front end of the supply chain to address the rapidly growing stevia market. We view our branding capabilities of our unique stevia varieties as a key component to our commercialization strategy moving forward."
Stevia variety 'SW 201' for the fresh and dry leaf market not only has a sweet taste with very little bitterness and aftertaste, but exhibited more Reb-A, less stevioside, more total steviol glycosides, a higher Reb-A to stevioside ratio, and a higher percentage of Reb-A to total steviol glycosides compared to the comparison samples from common varieties.
Stevia variety 'SW 227' has an excellent, sweet leaf taste with very low bitterness and aftertaste, late flowering, high plant vigor characterized by extensive stooling and branching, enhanced dry leaf yields and leaves having an average rebaudioside A content of 10.7%.
Stevia variety 'SW 107' exhibits increased concentrations of Reb-A sweetener, higher leaf mass production and an improved taste profile that has little or no aftertaste.
'SW 107' has been bred to address commercial processing markets in North America, South America, and other regions of the world that have climates suitable for it.
Stevia variety 'SW 129' has very sweet leaves with high levels of steviol glycosides, very low bitterness and aftertaste, excellent overwintering, high plant vigor, high leaf yield and is late flowering. 'SW 129' is ideally suited for commercial level stevia extraction due to these enhanced characteristics.
Stevia is a relative newcomer in the estimated over $50 billion global sweetener market. According to a report released by analysts at Technavio on May 26, 2016, this market is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 4.78% during the period between 2016 and 2020.
Founded in 1980, S&W Seed Company is a global agricultural Company, headquartered in Fresno, California.
The Company's vision is to be the world's preferred proprietary seed Company which supplies a range of forage and specialty crop products that supports the growing global demand for animal proteins and healthier consumer diets.
