Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the IBA, 2016, Ashford, United Kingdom

                                    held at Ashford International Hotel, Ashford, United Kingdom

            16/06/2016, 1:00pm – 1:30pm

1. Welcome by President

Dirk Herdieckerhoff welcomed delegates and observers, one representative of each member country present apart Japan + 2 observers.

2. Apologies from :

Mike Kearney, Treasurer, New Zealand; represented by John Tavendale

Franz Ennser, Independent Director, Austria Juice; proxy for votes to Dirk Herdieckerhoff

Jun Fujikuma, JBA; proxy for votes to Dirk Herdieckerhoff

3. Minutes of 7th AGM held in Vilnius, Lithuania, in June 2015

Tabled as read, no comments arising. (approved unanimous)

4. President’s Annual Report 2015

Tabled as read, no comments arising. (approved unanimous)

5. IBA Financial Statement 2015/16

IBA Accounts 2015

Already presented and approved at the board meeting. (approved unanimous)

6. General Manager’s Report on activities 2015-2016

Already presented at the board meeting, no discussion followed.

7. Election of officers:

Dirk Herdieckerhoff asked Jim Grierson to conduct the elections for the IBA presidency, assisted by Stefanie Sharma for counting the votes, and to proceed for a paper vote. Jim Grierson asked for nominations of candidates. Two nominations: Dirk Herdieckerhoff and Anthony Snell.

Election of Anthony Snell (6 votes against 4) (Moved Jim Grierson, Seconded Stefanie Sharma)

Stefanie Sharma was asked to destroy the papers after the vote.

Anthony Snell thanked Dirk Herdieckerhoff for the great job he did over the past two years. He explained that it is an honor for him to take over this post for the next two years and expressed his willingness to carry on the job with good exchange and under the motto: “Promote the market for blackcurrants, the superfruit, which is the ‘Best Berry for Life’”. Anthony Snell will present a policy for his presidency over the next months to the Board.

The newly elected president should now conduct the elections for the posts of vice-presidents; Anthony Snell asked Jim Grierson to conduct these elections also. Jim Grierson explained that according to the IBA rules, the outgoing president will be automatically part of the Exec as advisor for the first term of the new president. Dirk Herdieckerhoff is therefore part of the Exec; call for nominations for vice-presidency: Jens Pedersen and Piotr Baryla were suggested and were elected unanimous by show of hands. (moved Jim Grierson, seconded Stefanie Sharma)

Non-serving officers reconducted unanimously: Mike Kearney=treasurer, bank signatory=John Tavendale, auditors=Heiko Danner and James Tavendale. (Moved Jim Grierson, seconded Stefanie Sharma)

Announcements were to be made at the closing session of the conference.

8. General Business
  • Occurrence IBA conferences and AGMs

Already presented at the Board meeting. For reminder: the IBA will stay based in New Zealand. France is being confirmed for hosting the next IBA conference in 2018.

  • Changes in IBA’s rules of association

Already presented at the Board meeting. Changes to be made in the original rules according to the proposal and to be circulated by the GM. (approved from the majority by show of hands)

No other general business

picture showing the voting members of the AGM 2016 in Ashford

 




Agenda AGM 2016

IBA Annual General Meeting 2016

Agenda AGM 2016
  1. Welcome by President
  2. Apologies
  3. Minutes of 7th AGM held in Vilnius, Lithuania, in June 2015 (to be approved)
  4. President’s annual report 2015 (to be approved)
  5. IBA Financial Statement 2015 (to be approved)
  6. General Manager’s Report on activities 2015/16
  7. General Business
    1. Occurrence IBA conferences and AGMs
    2. Changes in IBA’s rules of association (to be approved)
    3. Any general business that may be brought at least 72 hours before the meeting
  8. Election of officers
    1. Call for nomination of directors. Three existing directors retire by rotation: Piotr Baryla, Dirk Herdieckerhoff and Jens Pedersen. Each is eligible and offers himself for re-election.
    2. Mike Kearney, Florent Baillard and Anthony Snell retain their directorship.
    3. Vice-presidents
    4. President
  9. Election of auditors
  10. IBA conference 2018: Presentation by the hosting country
  11. Questions arising / other issues

 

Supporting information:

  1. Minutes of the 2015 AGM held in Vilnius, Lithuania, June 2015
  2. President’s Report 2015 (available from 15th June 2016 onwards)
  3. IBA Financial Statement 2015/16 (presented during the AGM)
  4. General Manager’s report on 2015/16 activities (available from 15th June 2016 onwards)



General Manager’s report 2015

Stefanie_Sharma

Activities are shown within financial year (1 April – 31 March).

Note: Change of GM in June, report does not include Bill Floyd’s activities for the last two months of his management (his work at that moment mainly went into the organization of the take-over, transmission of knowledge and conference questions).

 

1. Promotion

I. Austria Juice NPDU

Austria Juice sponsored the IBA for developing a strategy which may help to increase sales for Austria Juice and thus increase the sales potential of blackcurrant growers.

Achievements 2015:
  • A project of a one-day symposium bringing together researchers and processors on an international level has been worked out and was supposed to take place in 2017 in Dijon, France. The same sort of meeting should afterwards be included in the framework of each IBA conference. Its aim was to initiate the creation of new products. The project was too ambitious to be realized with limited financial resources, and has to be changed.
Planned 2016:
  • Austria Juice and the IBA work on the creation of a working group within the IBA: this New Product Development Unit will have to define countries and types of new products to be developed. A yearly cooking contest for hobby cooks, bloggers and professionals is the basic idea.

 

II. New Holland Blackcurrant Food Heroes

New Holland sponsored the IBA for the Food Heroes project. A new section in our website has been created, showing the various uses of blackcurrants in cooking.

Achievements 2015:
  • Together with the creation of the new website, the recipe section has changed. It has been improved by classifying the recipes and including New Holland’s logo on each page. Further recipes have been added into the collection over the months.
Planned 2016:
  • New Holland continues to support this project. The IBA will steadily increase the number of recipes and highlight them also on the IBA facebook pages. Blackcurrant, before being transformed into a nutraceutical, is a wonderful berry with flavours that can be used in many kinds of food. Bringing people to cook with blackcurrants will slowly increase the demand in the fresh fruit or IQF market.

 

III. Communication

The IBA’s first aim is to facilitate communication in the global blackcurrant family, and spread knowledge about blackcurrant – the best berry for life.

Achievements 2015:
Planned 2016:
  • Increase the database of subscribers to the newsletter.
  • Improve the facebook posting frequency.
  • Increase the number of followers of the facebook pages. Facebook is the most used social media at the moment and allows us to spread general knowledge about blackcurrants all over the world. Two main themes to develop: health benefits and food/drinks with blackcurrants.
  • Raise sponsorship for improving the work on facebook and newsletters.

 

iV. Website

Given the technological changes and evolution of all means of communication over the past few years, our website needed to be refreshed.

Achievements 2015:
  • Change of the name: www.internationalblackcurrantassociation.com has become www.blackcurrant-iba.com
  • Change of the website host (financial improvement: cost has decreased by 700%)
  • Change of the look: new template
  • Internal administration by the GM instead of an external company. Gain: being more reactive, reducing costs.
  • Introduction of a limited access to confidential information for IBA members by registration.
  • New section on health benefits of blackcurrants
Planned 2016:
  • Old sections to be improved (country association info, recipe section etc.)
  • New sections to be added:
    • Agronomy and plant breeding sector group information
    • New Product Development Unit
    • Press work
  • Improvement of the SEO (search engine optimization) for being more visible

 

V. Media

Our impact on traditional media is quite low: press work cannot be well done on an international level for small organizations with limited time and resources like ours.

Achievements 2015:
  • Putting together all the former media releases in one section of the website and adding new articles and links.
  • Answering enquiries of different press people, collecting their data.
Planned 2016:
  • Collecting names and addresses of journalists from all over the world to keep updated with our newsletters/press releases.
  • Give support to countries/growers for improving their work with press on a local level (more efficient!).
  • Further develop the media releases and section dedicated to press on the website.

 

2. Executive (Governance & Administration)

The General Manager’s work is to look after the good administration of our association, whether financial or other matters are concerned. It is the General Manager’s responsibility to keep the IBA in a sound financial situation, ensure payments of membership fees and secure sponsorship income which is vital for the IBA.

Achievements 2015:

  • The IBA’s rules of association had to be reviewed (last update in 2012) after some changes. The introduction of individual membership possibilities and fees need to be specified in these rules. Preparation of this point of the agenda with the IBA Board for the Annual General Meeting and vote.
  • The interval of IBA conferences seemed not to suit any more, and bi-annual conferences are seen to be more interesting and valuable. This makes a few changes necessary in the administration of the IBA by the Board and Executive and needs to be voted in the AGM. Preparation of this point of the agenda with the IBA Board.
  • Most of the traditional sponsors continue to support the work of the IBA. Other sponsorship opportunities have been identified and are under discussion or will be discussed.
Planned 2016:
  • Keep the amount of time spent on general matters stable to be able to concentrate further on promotion.
  • Raise new sponsorships.
  • Significantly increase the number of individual members of the IBA.

 

3. Conferences

The IBA conferences are traditionally hosted in one of the member countries and organized by this country’s association. The role of the General Manager is to support the organizing team and make information before and after the conferences available to the IBA members.

Achievements 2015:
  • Presentations from the conference in Vilnius + pictures available on the IBA website.
  • Support for the organization of the conference in Ashford.
Planned 2016:
  • As in former years, make presentations from the conference in Ashford + pictures available on the IBA website as close to the conference as possible, especially the data on global blackcurrant production sponsored by Weremczuk.
  • No conference planned in 2017.

 

4. Country Associations

9 countries have country associations and were members of the IBA in 2015: Denmark, France, Germany, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland and United Kingdom. Changes: Lithuania cannot afford membership in the IBA for 2016. Japan has created a country association and has become member of the IBA in 2016.

Several other countries grow blackcurrants commercially or have research institutes, but have no associations like in the 10 countries mentioned above.

Achievements 2015:
  • A breakdown of information about each member country has been realised.
  • Contacts have been established with Austria and China.
  • A change in the IBA’s rules of association has been elaborated, enabling people and organizations from these countries to become members of the IBA individually, unless a country association is formed.
  • Lists of members of each country association have been collected and put into a common IBA database. Membership cards have been issued.
Planned 2016:
  • Improve the information available about member countries on the website.
  • Monitor developments in other countries and assist those who want to establish an association.

 

5. Agronomy, Plant Breeding, Health & Science

Achievements 2015:
  • The Agronomy & Plant Breeding sector group of the IBA sponsored by Bayer has been formalized, data collected on pest control, plant protection products and blackcurrant varieties from all over the world. The working group will come together and decide for a strategy of sharing this information and topics to be discussed over the next years.
  • A new section about “blackcurrant – the stress hero” has been developed on our website.
Planned 2016:
  • Develop a new section on agronomy and plant breeding available for our members on our website.
  • Significantly improve the health section of the website and make the wonderful health benefits of blackcurrants know to the people through facebook.

 

Stefanie Sharma,

General Manager IBA

 




Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the IBA, 2015, Vilnius, Lithuania

held at Artis Centrum Hotel Vilnius, Lithuania, 10th June 2015 from 3:50pm to 4pm

Welcome by President

Dirk Herdieckerhoff welcomes delegates and observers, approximately 25 attended.

Apologies from :

Anthony Snell, Vice President, United Kingdom; Mike Kearney, Treasurer, New Zealand; Franz Ennser, Independent Director, Austria Juice; Florent Baillard, Director, France; Bill Floyd, New Zealand; Jim Griersen, New Zealand

Minutes of 6th AGM held in Bialowieza, Poland, June 2014

Tabled as read, no comments arising. (approved unanimous; moved Dirk Herdieckerhoff, seconded Jens Pedersen)

President’s Report

By lack of time, the report has not been presented completely, but was summed up by DH.

IBA Financial Statement 2014/15

Presented at the board meeting, but following objections from Poland, the financial statement had to be checked before being submitted for vote. No alters to the initial financial statement had to be made, it was thus submitted to all voting countries via email. Approved unanimously. (Dirk Herdieckerhoff, seconded Piotr Baryla)

Retiring General Manager’s Report on activities 2014-2015

Presented by DH. After 8 years of successful work, Bill Floyd had to resign for health reasons. The IBA owes him a lot. Report received, no discussion followed.

Incoming General Manager’s introduction

The IBA Executive carried out a selection process for a new General Manager and appointed Stefanie Sharma as the new IBA GM.

Election of officers:

Anthony Snell and Piotr Baryla both stand for continuing vice-presidency, all board members stand for reconduction. Approved unanimously. (Moved Dirk Herdieckerhoff, Seconded Piotr Baryla). Piotr Baryla suggested Dirk Herdieckerhoff for continuing as president for the next year. Approved unanimously. (Moved Piotr Baryla, Seconded Jens Pedersen). Non-serving officers reconducted unanimously. (Moved Dirk Herdieckerhoff, Seconded Piotr Baryla)

General Business:

Comment John Tavendale: the IBA should have a policy to bring blackcurrant to the forth with generic advertising. Whenever selling blackcurrant, the same slogan should be put forward and promoted worldwide. A certain percentage of the IBA income should be spent on it. The participants of the AGM agree that more promotion work is necessary. Stefanie Sharma informs that the IBA budget is not high enough to allow generic advertisement in magazines or on TV: the cost of such ads is horrendous (at least 2000€ for one page in a minor magazine). She suggests that every country representative should start press relations and put them forward for their own country. A thread to advise countries how to deal with press could be included on the IBA’s website. The participants of the AGM agree that there should be a common language, with the same message being spread. The IBA General Manager should provide information material.

Dirk Herdieckerhoff explains how the annual conferences are handled: a grower-orientated conference 2-day conference on a rather European level one year, another more market-strategy orientated 3-day worldwide conference the other year.

  • Invitation for 3-day conference in Kent by Anthony Snell for 2016. Dirk Herdieckerhoff will confirm the place and dates with Anthony Snell and inform the board about the decision.
  • Conference 2017: Invitation from Ukraine. Piotr Baryla is not sure if it is good to keep Ukraine for a small conference now, given the current political situation. An invitation exists also from Norway, maybe the place could be changed. John Tavendale adds also that Ukraine is not yet a paying member. Heiko Danner informs the assembly that there is also an informal invitation from Austria for a small conference. The Exec will decide on the place and inform everyone at the Kent conference.
  • Conference 2018: suggested to be in France.
  • Jun Fujikuma informs the General Assembly that a Japanese blackcurrant association has been established, and Bill Floyd been contracted as adviser to this association. He officially invites the IBA to Japan, where another conference could be held, either in 2018 or in 2020, if wanted.



Minutes of the 4th Annual General Meeting of the IBA, 2012, Dundee, Scotland

Held Tuesday 15th May 2012, commencing 4.15pm

Welcome by President, Jim Grierson.

Apologies: Jarrow Rogovin (USA); Wieslaw Blocki (Poland); Anthony Snell (UK); James Tavendale (NZ); Jane Lancaster (NZ); Greg Quinn (USA).

Minutes of the 3rd AGM held in Goes, Netherlands, May 2011. Minutes approved (Moved Jensen/Seconded Eder). Matters arising from the Minutes of the 2nd AGM: A general discussion took place on membership by Eastern European countries. Noted that Poland had created a Grower Association which would become a financial member of the IBA; and that other countries such as Ukraine and Lithuania now attending IBA Conference. Jim Grierson congratulated Stan Pluta on his work in assisting the Polish industry to develop its own grower group.

Presidents Report

Read and adopted (Moved Jensen/seconded Eder). Annual Financial Statement (AFS) presented by Jim Grierson who noted the following: Four Leaf Japan had agreed to advance payment of their sponsorship for the 2011-2012 year to assist IBA cash-flow. This resulted in a double payment within one financial year for Four Leaf Japan. Floyd Marketing Ltd had agreed to the IBA suspending payment of their invoices but still providing management services, while cash-flow had been an issue. The financial statement was shown in Euro for the benefit of the majority attending the AGM but the various incomes and expenditures had been transacted in NZ dollars during the 12 months. Due to currency fluctuations this meant the Euro sum shown was not exactly correct; and that a set of records in NZ dollars was available for any member showing the exact values.

Matters arising from the AFS: In response to questions from the floor, Jim Grierson explained that the Executive costs were for travel and accommodation for Conference; and that the IBA had provided NZ$8000 to the organizing committee of the Goes Conference for assistance with that event.

Adoption of the AFS: Moved Grierson/Seconded Jensen. Agreed unanimous.

General Managers report on activities of the IBA in the 2011-2012 year

The General Manager summarised the Paper, explaining that the full details of activity was provided because the Financial Statement had recorded all Floyd Marketing’s work under the heading ”˜administration’ whereas ”˜administration’ as such was a very small part of the work paid for. Jim Grierson noted that the General Manager’s position was appointed by the Board. As from 2012, the General Manager performance would be formally reviewed by the President and another Board member. A written assessment of the review would be provided to the General Manager and be included in the AGM papers each year. Floyd Marketing Ltd (FML) was contracted to carry out the position of General Manager and this work was done by FML’s principals, Bill and Sandee Floyd. FML was well respected in New Zealand and had proven to be a very good team working for the benefit of the IBA membership.

IBA Rules of Association

The draft IBA Rules of Association were read by Jim Grierson who invited members to discuss the draft and noted that, if approved by the meeting, the Rules would come into effect immediately. A discussion then followed:John Tavendale believed that the immediate Past President should be part of the Board structure and was concerned that his or her skills shouldn’t be lost to the Board. He suggested that this could be an ex officio appointment and be for a two year period. Jo Hitchley suggested that 5 years was a long term for President and this should be reviewed. The discussion that followed agreed that a four-year term would allow the election of President to be tied to the major bi-annual Conference. Jim Grierson thanks John and Jo for their constructive comments and asked that the meeting approve the draft as it was and allow the new Board to make any changes warranted. Jim noted that the Rules weren’t ”˜cast in concrete’ but could be changed as circumstances required.

Moved that the IBA Rules of Association be adopted: Moved Grierson/Seconded Kearney. Carried Unanimous.

Election of officers

Jim Grierson explained his recommendation for a new Executive structure with two Vice Presidents (one responsible for Europe and the other for Asia/Australasia/North America). These two Vice Presidents, with the President and the General Manager, would form the IBA Executive and be charged with the daily-monthly conceptualization, implementation and management-governance of the IBA’s activities.

Jim Grierson then explained that the Executive recommended a rotational approach to Board appointees and that Jo Hitchley (UK), Dr Miyanaga (Japan) and Greg Quinn (USA) had been asked to stand down as part of that rotation. This recommendation was based on those persons having not been able to participate in regular Board activities and AGM’s over the last 36 months. Jim Grierson noted that valuable contribution all three had made to the founding of the IBA and especially, Dr Miyanaga’s vision in suggesting the IBA’s strap-line, “The Best Berry for Life”. Jim Grierson noted that all three would continue to be key members of the IBA, Jo Hitchley thorough her Chair position with the UK Foundation, Dr Miyanaga as Chair of the critically important Japan Cassis Association and Greg Quinn who was expected to play a key role in the future development of a North American Country Association of the IBA. Jim Grierson then advised he was not be seeking re-election and accordingly was standing down as President and would Chair the election of the Board and its officers.

Nominations for the seven Board positions were:

  • Svend Jensen, Denmark (Moved Ennser/Seconded Eder).
      1. David Eder, Four Leaf Japan (Moved Kearney/seconded Leith)
  • Anthony Snell, UK (Moved Hitchley/Seconded Hyatt)
  1. Dirk Herdieckheroff (Moved Eder/Seconded Kearney)
  2. Florent Balliard, France (Moved Jensen/Seconded Eder)
  3. Mike Kearney, NZ (Moved Jensen/Seconded Snell)
  • Franz Ennser, Agrana (Moved Jensen/Seconded Kearney)
  • There being no more nominations and given that all the above had been confirmed unanimously by the meeting, Jim Grierson congratulated the seven members on their election or re-election. Jim Grierson then called for nominations for the position of President. Svend Jensen was moved by Jim Grierson and seconded by mark Eder. No other nominations were moved and the meeting unanimously approved Jensen’s appointment Nominations for Vice Presidents were Anthony Snell and Mike Kearney (Moved Tavendale/Seconded Stephens). No other nominations were made and the meeting voted unanimously for their appointments.

The Future Direction of the IBA

”˜Growing a Prosperous Future’ -strategy paper presented by Svend Jensen. Copied of this paper had been supplied with the AGM papers. Svend spoke to each heading and asked if there was any concerns. Agreed that the Strategy paper form the basis of the Board and the Executive’s planning. Note that no formal vote taken on this. IBA Activities Programme for 2012-2013 – draft programme presented by IBA General Manager, Bill Floyd. Bill noted that the degree to which activities could be implemented was totally dependent on funding. Funding would be developed by a mix of sponsorship, new Country memberships and a new membership category for private individuals. Final prioritization and degree of implementation of tactics would be decided by the Executive and subject to funding available.

General Business

Agronomy Forum: report on the inaugural Agronomy Workshop presented by Rob Saunders, Forum chair.

Rob explained that the inaugural forum had presentations by Jim Grierson (nutrition), Geoff Langford (gallmite), Rob (sudden bush death), Michelle Fountain; (pollination); Bill Floyd (Grower of the Year concept); and a wrap by Jim Grierson.

Marketing Forum: report by Bill Floyd, IBA general Manager: Presentation by Franz Ennser on the World Juice Market gave the forum attendees an excellent global perspective of the beverage market per se and how blackcurrant needed to find its relevance and positioning opportunities within such a vast sector. The overview was at the same time both threatening, enlightening and exciting.

The second presentation, ”˜Accessing New Markets – demands, products, and entry strategies’ was by Karen Hamann of IFAU. This presentation gave a perfect balance to Franz’s macro view and profiled niche market operators: showing how opportunities were achieved by micro focus once a macro understanding gave a defined opportunity and purpose.

Bill then explained his paper on the concept of a blackcurrant Awards: this was a project that would be developed over the next 3 months. The purpose of presenting the concept paper at the Forum was to scope a small team that would look at viable options. Forum members were asked to make contact with Bill post-Forum.

  1. There was no other General Business

Meeting closed at 5.22pm.

 




Activities 2012-2013 / Planned Activities 2013-2014

Bill_Floyd_IBA_blackcurrantReport on the IBA Strategic Programme

Activities have been monitored on 6 platforms: Country Associations; Conference; Sector Groups; Health & Science; Promotion; Sponsorship; Executive (Governance & Administration). Activities shown within Financial year (1 April – 31 March), and not calendar year.

Country Associations

Nine countries are members of the IBA: Denmark; France; Germany; Japan; Netherlands, New Zealand; Norway; Poland; United Kingdom. Another eleven countries are known to produce commercially grown blackcurrants and or have research institutes focussed on blackcurrants and participate in IBA activities: Australia; Canada; China; Estonia; Hungary; Latvia; Lithuania; Russia; Ukraine; USA; Uzbekistan.

Achievements 2012-2013

Poland assisted to become a full financial member; IBA President participated in meetings in Poland. IBA President assisted new Polish organisation to develop new networks with key international processors. Contacts initiated with Russian researchers and Russia’s own blackcurrant growers Association.

Planned 2013-2014

Develop contacts with Russia and look at values for Russian in full membership of IBA. Initiate discussions with USA industry to develop USA Country Association. Monitor industry developments in other countries and options for membership through research institutes if no grower groups.

Conference 

The major annual industry event. At Dundee in 2012 it was agreed that a full Conference will alternate with a biannual Horticultural Conference each year.

Achievements 2012-2013

Dundee Conference 2012 rated a major success by all participants. Inaugural Biannual 2-day Horticultural Conference concept agreed to alternate with full 3-day Conference. IBA Global Production Database formalised as a key part of all future Conferences with information updates on IBA website.

Planned 2013-2014

IBA assisting the German Committee to develop the programme, secure registrations and publicity: June 2013. IBA to assist KSPCP (Polish Growers Association) with planning for Conference 2014. Production database will be refined on an on-going basis as better information available.

Sector Groups

Achievements 2012-2013

IBA Agronomy & Plant Breeding (A&PB) Sector Group formed with own memberships database. Prestigious group of scientists secured as presenters for inaugural Sector Group Forum.

Planned 2013-2014

A&PB Forum in June: significant research synergy expected to result from this initiative and positive publicity expected to be secured with both trade-specialist and general media. IBA policy is to assist potential sector group members to develop their own self-funding entities: we believe two sector groups could be A&PB and a new sector group to do with Product Development.

Health & Science

Achievements 2012-2013:

Research from Dundee published on IBA website. IBA assisted research organisation with introduction to brand marketer for long-term project development.

Planned 2013-2014:

Monitor published research for news potential as part of IBA promotional activities.

Promotion

Achievements 2012-2013:

IBA website providing information base for all activities. General media release distributed January 2013: limited success outside of IBA membership highlighted need for ”˜real news’. IBA assisted French Cassissium generate good publicity within France.

Planned 2013-2014:

Working with German Committee to maximise publicity from Conference and Forum in June. Will use networks created with A&PB Sector group to generate positive media release re Blackcurrants and Climate Change. Will provide media releases late 2013-early 2014 to support KSPCP with Conference in Poland.

Sponsorship

Achievements 2012-2013:

Four Leaf renewed (but reduced from €16250 to €6500), Jarrow sponsorship renewed €2000. New sponsorship from Agrana Juices (€6000), Weremczuk (€6000), CRT Currantbase (€1000)

Planned 2013-2014:

Liaise directly with each Country Association: identify companies that are champions of blackcurrants within those countries and would benefit from being sponsors. IBA manager will be paid on commission only, and not time spent, for securing sponsorships.

Executive (Governance & Administration)

Achieved 2012-2013:

New Exec Committee formed (President/2 Vice Presidents/General Manager): Has monthly Exec Skype Conference and Minutes reported to IBA Board. IBA management services contracted to Floyd Marketing (FML). FML works on hourly rate and position is part-time. IBA Board meeting held prior to Conference 2012. IBA AGM held prior to Conference 2012: IBA Rules approved by AGM and used by Exec.

Planned 2013-2014:

Exec Committee monthly Skypes to be bi-monthly and not monthly. Annual Board meeting and AGM in Germany.

7 May 2013




Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the IBA, 2013, Waldenburg, Germany

  1. Held Tuesday 4th June, 2013, commencing 4.15pm

  2. Welcome by President, Svend Jensen.
  3. Apologies: David Eder, Franz Ennser
  4. Minutes of 4th AGM held in Scotland, May 2012: Tabled as read: Moved Jensen/Seconded Kearney. Approved unanimous.
    1. Svend explained that under the Rules of the Association the Board had created the positions of two Vice Presidents and appointed Anthony Snell (VP representing Northern Hemisphere) and Mike Kearney (VP representing Southern Hemisphere).
    2. In addition the Board decided to increase its size to 8 elected positions for the 2013 AGM Election of officers.
  5. Presidents Report: read by Svend Jensen.
  6. IBA Financial Statement AFS: tabled by Mike Kearney. Approved by AGM subject to correction for UK membership. Moved Herdieckerhoff/seconded Snell. Approved unanimous. Discussion arising: Mike explained that management costs would be reduced reducing Exec skype meetings from monthly to bi-monthly; the Country Association fees basically covered costs associated with general management, annual conference and country Associations activities. Sponsorships were required to cover costs of promotional tactics to grow market demand. Intention was to have a surplus at years’ end.
  1. General Manager’s Report on activities 2012-2013 and planned activities for 2013-2014. Report received and discussion followed: An IBA New Product Development Sector Group (NPD-SG)would be a key tactic developed through 2013-2015. This NPD-SG would be self-funding from sponsorships and “user-pays” events. Manager to explain concept to Conference at Thursday’s Plenary Session. Change to IBA Rules: the IBA recommends that the Board positions be increased by one person to eight: this is allowable under the Rules of Association of the IBA (Rule 3/c/ii). Moved Jensen/seconded Herdieckerhoff. Approved unanimous.
  1. Election of officers
    1. Call for nomination of five directors. Four existing directors retire by rotation : Anthony Snell, Mike Kearney, Florent Baillard, Dirk Herdieckerhoff. Each are eligible and offer themselves for re-election. Piotr Baryla offered himself for nomination to the new Board position. Moved that Messrs Snell, Kearney, Baillard, Herdeickerhoff and Bryla be appointed Directors. Moved Jensen/Seconded Kearney. Approved unanimous.
  1. Note that Messrs Ennser and Eder retained their independent Board positions and Svend Jensen retained Board position and Presidency.
  1. General Business:
    1. No general business.

AGM closed 4.45pm




Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the IBA, 2014, Bialowieza, Poland

Held Monday 2 June 2014 at Bialowieza, Poland; 3.10pm-3.50pm

Svend welcomed delegates and observers: approx 50 attended.

  1. Apologies from: Franz Ennser, Anthony Snell, Jun Fujikuma. Apologies be accepted, Moved Jensen/Seconded Grierson. Approved.

Minutes of 2013 AGM taken as read. Discussion on Minutes 2013: none. Moved 2013 AGM Minutes correct:  Moved Jensen/Seconded Grierson. Approved.

Presidents Report read by Svend. Discussion on Report: none. Moved Presidents Report be accepted: Moved Jensen/Seconded Baryla. Approved.

IBA Financial Report: presented by Mike. Key points:

    • Sponsorship income developing.
    • Grower contributions kept same
    • All items down on Expenditure and costs stable.
    • Moved Financial Report be accepted: Moved Kearney/Seconded Grierson. Approved.

General Manager Report: taken as read and Bill only spoke to key matters-business:

    • Japan will have a new Association membership of IBA in 2014.
    • Agronomy and Plant-breeding information will be developed in 2014-2014 with significant sponsorship opportunities.
    • A new Poster Board will be created on the website for scientists
    • Austria Juice Blackcurrant New Product Development Unit a major development that could in time benefit the global industry.
    • Weremczuk’s Global Production Chart continues to be an important information base for all growers and subject to EU regulatory approval historical pricing could be re-introduced.
    • New Holland’s Blackcurrant Food Heroes initiative will help create new awareness of commercial opportunities for product developers and marketers.
    • Bill intends resigning in 2015 and the Exec is looking at replacement options: Bill would still be available to consult or work on special projects for the IBA and or sponsorship activities and commitments.

Election of Officers

    1. Mike Kearney, Dirk Herdieckerhoff and Florent Baillard resigned as per the rotation requirement of the IBA and offered themselves for re-election. Moved Grierson/Seconded Baryla. Approved.
    1. Jens Pedersen nominated to the Board position left open by Svend Jensen’s resignation. Moved Jensen/Seconded Grierson, Approved.
    1. Dirk Herdieckerhoff nominated for President. Moved Jensen/Seconded Grierson. Jim Grierson spoke to Dirk’s qualities and suitability. No other nominations received, Approved.
    1. Anthony Snell nominated for Vice President. Moved Jensen/seconded Grierson. Piotr Baryla nominated for Vice President.
  1. Moved Kearney/seconded Grierson. No other nomination received and Snell/Baryla confirmed as VP’s.

General Business

    1. Frequency of Conference discussed. Agreed that momentum needed to be continued and annual conference necessary. One 2-day event followed by major 3-day event. John Tavendale noted that NZ growers met annually but held their major Conference bi-annually. John Tavendale asked that all proceedings of the IBA be transparent and all members have the right to attend any meetings.

AGM closed 4pm.




Report on 2014/2015 Activities

Bill_Floyd_IBA_blackcurrantMembership

We have 9 financial members: Denmark; France; Germany; Lithuania, Netherlands; New Zealand; Norway; Poland; United Kingdom. A new organisation is being formed in Japan, the Japan Blackcurrant Association, and it becomes a Country member from October 2015.

Potential Members

The Rules of the IBA allow for non-Grower Associations or organisations to represent a Country if no groups of growers are organised to do so. Countries with the potential to become members through grower or non-grower groups include Australia, China, Estonia, Latvia, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine, USA. Strong research institutions and or innovative marketers in these countries could form the basis of a membership group and the IBA needs to explore this.

Non-voting Individual Membership

The new IBA Board should consider the introduction of an individual person/company membership (as opposed to a Country membership). The 2015 Conference has a Conference registration fee differential for members and non-members. This, plus other incentives and benefits, could see the successful introduction of an ”˜individual’ person/company membership.

Sponsorship

The successful development of the IBA in its present form came about through the vision of the early sponsors who “backed” an unknown group of people and their Vision: sponsors such as Four Leaf Japan (now Beneseed Japan),  Jarrow USA, and CurrantC, followed by Weremczuk and Agrana, and then Austria Juice, New Holland, and Bayer Crop Science.

As the IBA’s strategies show their value within industry and within markets the IBA’s value to sponsors will continue to grow. In 2014 the IBA developed three new sponsor-specific strategies: strategies critical to the IBA achieving its Vision and also of very direct appeal and value to those sponsors: Austria Juice, New Holland Agriculture, and Bayer Crop Science. This inter-value strategic sponsorship model is the best model for an organisation like the IBA. Opportunities exist to significantly increase sponsorship in this manner in the years ahead. 

A Global Consumer Positioning Platform: Blackcurrant-”˜the Stress Hero!’

In the last few years we have seen scientists start to focus on a specific consumer benefit that blackcurrants can provide. It can be best summed up with the ”˜strapline’/’hashtag’: Blackcurrant-the Stress Hero. Research already published, and more being published in 2015, shows blackcurrants can offer a significant value for sportspeople in reducing the harmful effects of rigorous exercise. And the benefit is not only for physical stress: research also shows a benefit for those in mentally stressful situations; and indicative secondary research suggests a benefit against dietary stress.

A research collaboration between New Zealand and Japan is investigating the potential of a blackcurrant supplement to be useful in reducing the harm of refined sugars in the diet. This has potential relevance for obesity issues and diabetes, and the overall global issue known as ”˜metabolic syndrome’.

Researchers also believe that there may be a link between this ”˜metabolic syndrome’ value and the value of blackcurrant supplements for sport stress. The IBA has a key role to play in continuing this focus by supporting researchers and promoting brands that champion the blackcurrant’s “ownership” of this platform. Such a simple and ”˜clean’ positioning platform is essential: most successful foods have one: none yet claim to be “the stress hero”. It is blackcurrants for the taking (or the losing!). Importantly, this position doesn’t detract from other research values: eye health and cardio health and the like.  I believe research could one day show there is an underlying physiological effect from blackcurrants that links all of these values.

And such a position doesn’t detract from blackcurrants value as a food or beverage component: it in fact adds cache to the berry and enhances F&B marketing opportunities. Look to the blueberry phenomenon to understand this.

The Conference Organisers in Lithuania are to be thanked for making “Blackcurrant: the Stress hero” the theme of the 2015 Conference.

Growing the Market: the Strategies

The blackcurrant ”˜suffers’ from not being trendy or fashionable; despite the wonderful individual efforts of many individuals and companies. In 2014 the IBA introduced two strategies with the intention of changing the global mind-set towards the blackcurrant and Influencing the marketplace to use blackcurrants in new product development.

The New Holland Blackcurrant Food Heroes Project

This project has just gone “public” and is on our website www.internationalblackcurrantassociation.com

The IBA will promote exciting and novel, as well as traditional culinary uses, from around the world. Last year we asked members of the IBA to assist in this global search: response has been disappointing but understandable: this is new and “uncharted” territory for members (and it was for us too!).

But our website now has examples and every member of the IBA has the opportunity to add their information to it.

The Austria Juice New Product Development Unit

The big problem facing ”˜blackcurrants’ isn’t “research” or “quality” (nor at the moment “price”!):

  • we have wonderful research (eg the UK Foundations Health Wheel),
  • the vast majority of growers produce exceptional quality,
  • and the low price right now is a sad joke!

So why aren’t blackcurrant products everywhere and growing on supermarket shelves? ”˜New product development’ is expensive and a long-term process. And usually market leaders follow rather than initiate real innovation: they watch small companies prove something before they commit to it. But perhaps one of the single best results of the establishment of the IBA has been the support of it by category champion and industry giant: Austria Juice. The IBA is working with Austria Juice to bring about a change in the global demand for blackcurrants. Ideas from the New Holland Food Heroes Project will provide a highly valuable source of ideas that could be suitable for high volume/global possibilities and these will be assessed by a team at Austria Juice. An international Sensory Symposium is also planned to be held at a prestigious European University, for leading food technologists and new product development decision-makers. We are looking at tactics that will make products happen: rather than hoping they might.

The Bayer Crop Science-IBA Agronomy & Plant Breeding Sector Group

At the core of the IBA’s activities is a rightful focus on agronomy and plant-breeding. As market demand develops, growers will look to maximise their own opportunities through growing berries from plants bespoke for phytochemical traits: traits to suit food and beverage applications and or proven health values. In 2014 the IBA “overhauled” its research resource and this is now available in an easy-to-use format on the IBA website.

In addition the newly-formed Sector Group, sponsored by BCS, will act as a catalyst for the ongoing conceptualisation and implementation of group initiatives/research topics/communications that can be of benefit to all growers. Over the next year we hope to introduce the IBA Variety Information Matrix (IBAVIM): a central information database for varieties.

Global Production and Pricing

The IBA’s primary role was, initially, to gather the global production stats and prices and make these public. The way we were doing it was dangerous in that we could have been accused of price fixing. Even if we can show historical pricing this might not be in the best interests of the growers to do so: if we can only show an “average” it makes it difficult for quality and innovation investment by growers to be rewarded: an average price lowers everyone’s expectations. But from the EU presentation at Poland, showing a detailed breakdown of historical pricing for a previous season could still be considered price manipulation. At the Conference in June the Board will decide what information the IBA should gather and promote on the Weremczuk-sponsored IBA Global Production Chart.

Bill Floyd, General Manager IBA, May 2015