Migiva Group and OZblu announced that they signed a joint venture agreement combining their skills and strengths to form OZblu America, which will bring to market a superior blueberry consumer experience, through production and delivery of exclusively patented varieties that offer nuanced flavours of sweeter, juicier, and crunchier blueberries.
Through this agreement for South, Central and North America, OZblu America will have rights to grow, sell and market the fruit coming from varieties developed by Dave and Leasa Mazzardis that is marketed under the OZblu brand. The joint venture will implement a vertically integrated model and ramp up the pace to bring the hugely successful OZblu varieties which include; “OZ Magnifica”, “OZ Bella”, “OZ Bonita”, “OZ Julieta” and “OZ Magica” to the marketplace.
Furthermore, the venture will speed up the delivery of the much-anticipated next generation of OZblu blueberries, which are even firmer and crunchier and most importantly, have great flavour, delivering an unparalleled and consistent blueberry eating experience to end consumers. ‘This is good news for the entire blueberry category. We strongly believe that if the whole blueberry industry can elevate the consumer eating experience with new varieties of this superfood, it will lead to a transformative uplift and broader consumption for the entire blueberry industry and drive future growth,’ explains Roger Horak, Global CEO and founder of United Exports and co-founder of OZblu, which is currently one of the largest producers of blueberries in South Africa and Australia.
‘Too often customers will buy blueberries and be disappointed with them. We have worked hard to create and develop blueberries that are firm, sweet and crunchy, which is how they should taste,’ says Dave Mazzardis, the breeder of the OZblu varieties.
‘Migiva Group’s innovative spirit and focus on delivering a superior consumer experience through specialty varieties and best farming practices, and OZblu’s outstanding consumer oriented blueberry breeding program provide a perfect match. Our partnership will bring to market blueberries of unparalleled quality and flavour, consistently year-round,’ explains Jonathan Geller of Migiva Group.
With OZblu’s superior blueberry breeding programme it made sense to find the right partner to develop the potential growth and supply of these exceptional blueberries. OZ America´s new blueberries will ‘burst’ into the global market as the preferred and consistent supplier of this favoured superfood, explains Jorge Pacheco, United Exports Commercial director for The Americas.
