Joanna Ratomska, CoRe CEO said that when deciding which growers they would like to form a cooperative with, it wasn't so much about total volumes, but more about potential. The average size of all three growers is around 25 hectares, with one grower slightly smaller at around 12 hectares. The cooperative has yearly production potential of over 1,000 tonnes with the inclusion of partner and associated growers.
"We don't have the largest growers, but this was never our goal. For example, we chose one of the company's based on the fact that they had the best number of returns per hectare in Poland and have also shown the ability to adapt to the customer's needs with ease. We wanted to have growers who are flexible and able to respond quickly to what is going on in the market." shared Joanna.
All three growers have known each other for many years and share the same approach to business, the importance of high working standards and product quality.
"Another goal of the cooperative is to increase transparency on all sides of the supply chain, which we believe will result in additional trust from the customer.
We are also very interested in gathering as much information as possible about the different varieties that are available on the market and due to the fact that we have medium sized operations, we are in a better position to change to what the customers wants, compared to larger operations." continued Joanna.
The UK market has historically been the largest market for Polish blueberries and continues to be very important. However, as demand for blueberries has been increasing over the last few years, many producers are looking to continental Europe for continued growth.
Of course, the company is always open to new markets and Joanna said that after a recent trade meeting in Tehran, many producers in Poland are looking at the country as an exciting new market.
"The lifting of the trade ban with Iran has really created some new opportunities and it would be a shame not to try to enter it." concludes Joanna.