StBoG – the Styrian berry cooperative

4.000 tonnes of blackcurrants in Austria in the 1980ies, 200 tonnes per year today: Austria's production declined, but some of the growers found a way to continue. They turned their production into organic in the 1990ies, and 95% of the whole yield is organic today. Most of the growers are in Styria, a hilly region [...]
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Dirk Herdieckerhoff

Short biography of Direk Herdieckerhoff, Germany: Dirk Herdieckerhoff gained his fruit industry experience working on a fruit farm in Kent, UK. In 1985, he completed his Masters degree in Agriculture at the University of Minnesota, USA. He then worked in various positions in agriculture and horticulture. For the last 25 years, Dirk has been the [...]
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Mike Kearney

Short biography of Mike Kearney, NZ: Mike Kearney is Manager of Blackcurrants New Zealand Inc. This wholly-owned New Zealand grower cooperative represents all New Zealand blackcurrant growers. Mike was a former economics policy adviser for the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. Holding a B.Ag.Com as well as diplomas in Accountancy and Horticulture, Mike has worked with [...]
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Tomi Pousi

Short biography of Tomi Pousi, F: Tomi Pousi completed his plant production sciences studies (MSc) in University of Helsinki in 2017 specializing into plant pathology. Already during his studies he was working as technical support agronomist with biological plant protection products. In November 2019 he moved into the Finnish Association of Fruit and Berry Growers [...]
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Genjiro Katayama awarded IBA honorary member

In its ten first years of existence, we did not have any IBA honorary member. The time has now come to acknowledge our gratitude to one of our most deserving members. In 2020, the International Blackcurrant Association has therfore awarded its first Honorary Life Membership to Genjiro Katayama. Genjiro Katayama and the IBA Genjiro Katayama [...]
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Blackcurrants: More to offer than we think

For several years, the IBA has had pleasure in listening to the presentations of Mark Willems. In fact, his research at the University of Chichester (United Kingdom) has lead to astonishing findings on the antioxidant effects of blackcurrant. The ongoing research on the reduction of oxidative stress during exercise (and more) is captivating! Here is [...]
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Blackcurrant media star worldwide

Starring blackcurrants When it comes to promoting our little black currant, many growers, transforming companies and research institutes benefit from a good partnership with the press. Some inform the IBA and share the links to the coverage they obtained. Our General Manager also find other media content through search engines and publishes the links. The [...]
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Save the date: IBA conference 2020 in Ukraine

It has been fixed: our next meeting will take place from 2nd to 5th June 2020. Save the date for the IBA conference 2020 in Ukraine. The organizers of the IBA conference 2020 in Ukraine Together with the IBA General Manager Stefanie Sharma, a team of four people from the Ukrainian Berry Association has started [...]
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Blackcurrant harvest 2019

We had no chance of personally exchanging estimations for the blackcurrant harvest 2019 this year, as we did not have a conference in June. Yet, everybody involved in blackcurrants is interested to hear how it was for the others. Find some information here! Globally less Although we do not have the figures of all our [...]
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Open Farm Day at the ”Krogzeme” organic blackcurrant farm in Latvia

Hartwig Mathias Ebert has followed an invitation from the last IBA newsletter for one of the summer events 2019. He actually participated in the Open Farm Day in Latvia on 17th August. It took place at the “Krogzeme” organic blackcurrant farm, around100 km North of Riga. He is happy to share his impressions in this [...]
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Orskov Foods – Processing blackcurrants (and more!) in Denmark

When the IBA Executive met in Denmark last April, we were invited to visit one of the privileged partners of our Danish grower members: Orskov Foods. A most interesting and pleasant visit. Welcome at Orskov Foods! Highly modern equipment, cleanliness, tidiness - and the warmest welcome at Orskov Foods. While we are choosing among a [...]
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