As Peru, the world leaders in blueberry production, struggle with the warmer weather and lower volumes, not all producers share the same fate, with new varietal genetics proving the difference. According to Steve Magami, co-founder of Agrovision: “We have reached the peak and have been the top exporter from Peru over the last couple of weeks. We’re having a great season with our premium blueberries, Sekoya in particular.”
Steve Magami, co-founder of Agrovision.
Why Peru’s volumes are down this season?
Magami puts this difference in fortunes down to having blueberry varieties that are well adapted to the warmer climate. About 70% of Peru’s blueberry fields are planted with the Beloxi and Ventura varieties that are struggling with the warmer climate.
“Genetics continue to be foundational. The Peruvian industry is going to be down heavily this season because the genetics varietals are not aligned with that micro climate. Only 20% of our plantings are in Ventura. We have no Beloxi. We are happy with our season. Certainly the prices are helping to make up for the shortage of the volumes. We are seeing a great opportunity for others to see in the longer term it is better to replace the old varieties for the new ones, to help to grow the markets. We are driving the markets, showing consumers what a better product looks like, it is almost a different product. We are happy to drive this from our leadership position and growing this industry. We think there’s tremendous opportunity for retailers to grow with us,” explains Magami.
Agrovision is a vertically integrated and leading grower, packer, shipper, and marketer of superfruits from Peru, Mexico, Morocco, and the USA (Oregon). They export to markets in North America, the UK, Europe, China, Southeast Asia, and Central and South America. The company supplies premium core superfruits, including blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and table grapes.
Offering 52 weeks supply
He says as they focus on improving the quality of the berries each year, retailers around the world are responding very positively while moving towards the premium category. “We have retailers increasingly seeing with the increasing prices of regular blueberries they might as well take premium blueberries. We have seen an acceleration of demand for our premium blueberries. We are in an exciting time transitioning from Peruvian to Mexican to US Sekoya. We are going to potentially be in a position to supply our top customers in North America for the first time for 52 weeks of premium, for the first time in the industry. Given the quality of the fruit, the value is there, the price is only marginally higher given the high prices of regular blueberries. Consumers are converted and become customers for life. We’re executing our vision of transforming the lives of communities where we operate. At the same time we are empowering consumers to live a healthier life. We’re inspiring parents to buy healthier snacks for their children instead of candy,” states Magami.
New pipeline of premium fruit coming
Looking to the immediate future for Agrovision, Magami says: “We have an exciting pipeline of new products coming including a premium blackberry, and in the future a premium cherry. This includes a premium new raspberry we released earlier this year and sold into Europe, we’re now expanding into Mexico for the North American market. We are going to be growing the cherries in Chile, which we are developing with partners. This is something we plan for 2025. We are planning to release the premium blackberry late in 2024,”
Technology adoption and future
He says Agrovision is advancing with partners in AI, shelf life extension, automation and robotics as their four pillars that support the technology pillar in the company. “We want to be in the leading group of technology adopters in the agriculture industry. We are incredible commercialisation partners for technology companies. It’s going to unlock an amount of growth and potential in this industry, which we have not seen yet. We are doing this successfully with multiple partners. We are evaluating best in tech. We believe there’s a huge amount of tech companies around the industry that need the help.”
Magami concludes by stating that AI prediction will be used to determine the harvest curve, but the use of technology will not replace people. “We use it to optimise the timing of volumes so we can programme better as an industry. AI will not replace people, employees with AI will replace workers without it. We believe AI is going to become very important to deploy and this industry will benefit greatly from it.”
For more information:
Steve Magami
Agrovision
Tel: +1 424 777 1770
www.agrovisioncorp.com