Global blueberry industry leaders gathered in South Africa for impactful Berries ZA-hosted IBO Summit 2025
The 2025 International Blueberry Organisation (IBO) Summit took place in South Africa and was hosted by the Berries ZA team, who started planning two years in advance to ensure the event was unforgettable.
And that they did.
“We’ve raised the bar on what the IBO stands for,” said Berries ZA Operations Manager Elzette Schutte.
Hosted at the South African capital’s coveted Cape Town International Convention Centre, the IBO summit featured a three-day program with industry panels and keynote discussions showcasing pillars of the blueberry industry, networking opportunities, farm and packhouse visits, and IBO insider announcements.
“After two years of hard work, it came together and we ended up with a conference that was different from others because it was concentrated and focused on only blueberries,” Schutte explained.
The blueberry world gathered at the IBO summit
The event welcomed over 575 delegates from 32 different countries. Panels covered a wide range of subjects, including machine harvesting, consumer trends, and the challenges facing the blueberry industry—72 hours filled with opportunities and information about the ever-growing berry community.
“I'm always looking out for women in agriculture, and Ambassador Darci Vetter was an amazing speaker,” she said. “I loved her, and the global leadership perspective on the future was very good. The content was incredible.”
So incredible, in fact, that she believes industry professionals who attended the IBO summit left with a better idea of what the organization is and the values driving its work across the globe.
“We’re an organization that brings people together, that asks the hard questions, helps direct where things are going,” Schutte added. “I think that we assisted in making sure attendees understood what the IBO stands for.”
Those attendees left wanting more can start making plans for the next IBO summit, which, Schutte says, sharing the scoop, “will probably be in South America.”
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