Since its establishment, UC Riverside’s OASIS initiative has been developing public-private partnerships to drive economic growth in the Inland Empire region. Those efforts are paying off, with a recent announcement that the New Zealand company Ohmio, an all-electric autonomous shuttle company, will establish its international headquarters in Riverside and manufacture the vehicles here. 

Mary Lu Arpaia and Eric Focht have bred avocado trees in association with the University of California, Riverside, for decades. In the video below, they describe their quest for a better avocado that resulted in the release this year of the Luna UCR™,  a new variety that is the great-grandchild of the Hass. Speaking from experimental UC groves in Irvine, Arpaia and Focht describe the benefits of the Luna and the challenges of creating this new fruit of their labor.

The newly release Luna UCR™ avocado offers consumers great flavor, a rind that turns a tell-tale black when ripe, while growers will benefit from a smaller tree size, allowing denser plantings for more efficient and safer harvesting.

Two Riverside startups receive over $80,000 in seed capital from Citrus Seeds