IG Berries is preparing to scale up its operations after establishing a vertically integrated berry growing and marketing business in India.

Established in 2017 as a joint venture between India's leading fruit importer IG International, Australia-based global breeder and marketer Mountain Blue Orchards (MBO) and seasoned agribusiness investor Mano Babiolakis, IG Berries commercialized its first volumes of blueberries earlier this year.

The first commercial harvest marked the culmination of a four-year effort to get the operation up and running, and Babiolakis, who oversees the management of the joint venture, said the results were encouraging.

"The harvesting and packing learning curve was very steep, especially since we were unable to travel or dispatch our technical teams to help with the setup process," he acknowledged.

“In general, we harvested and sold around 30 tons [of blueberries] in the market, mainly in Mumbai, with good prices, quality and very good feedback from our customers. It certainly gave us enormous confidence to see how well the product was received and the fact that the market was willing to pay for a high-quality product. "

IG Berries now has two farms in Madhya Pradesh, one located in Amarwara and the second 20 km away in Singori. “We have planted around 240.000 plants, all under potted nets and substrate,” Babiolakis explained. “Another 160.000 plants will enter Singori in 2022. We have also built our own packing and cooling facilities on the farm.”

IG Berries' blueberry production is currently focused on the first half of the year, from January to late May / early June, and the company plans to market around 220 tonnes in 2022. Volumes are forecast to increase to 1.200 tonnes per year from 2024 with existing plantations and new plantations in Singori. The two farms are expected to have around 50ha in production next year.

IG Berries built a tissue culture laboratory and complete nursery facility early in their journey to enable the company to plant at high speed and scale.

“We have established a very strong platform that scales very quickly and very broadly,” Babiolakis said. “MBO varieties give us a clear advantage. Our nursery has the capacity to produce more than 1 million plants a year. We know the market is there, so the main challenge for us is to consistently produce a high-quality berry."

Land to expand

To this end, IG Berries is now working to acquire a large piece of land located a few hours drive from its current farms.

“Buying land is always a challenge in India. You are always buying from various farmers, but we are confident that we will be able to finalize this acquisition in the coming months. This will allow us to expand quickly.”

Babiolakis said the goal is to plant 450ha of blueberries on the new site by 2024. "We are currently working on a capital raising exercise and looking for the right partner to enable us to implement it," he explained. “We also have raspberries and blackberries in trials, and we will look to slowly expand these lines in the future.”