Growing Aronia: Nature's Resilient Super Berry
We don't just believe in natural nutrition; we grow it. Discover how resilient berries and regenerative farming make PhyterBerry a force for health and for the land.
We Know Aronia, Because We Grow It
Steve, our Scientific Farmer and co-founder, has spent over a decade growing and researching aronia berries on his West Cork hill farm. This hands-on expertise gives us a rare understanding of how soil, climate, and farming practices shape berry quality and how to protect the natural nutritional power from field to finished product.
Demand now exceeds what we can grow ourselves; to supplement our harvest, we partner with a trusted organic family farm in Poland and support a growing network of Irish and UK farmers to establish their own aronia plantations. This ensures consistency, nutritional integrity, and environmental standards across every crop we use.
Meet Aronia: Nature's Richest Source of Polyphenols
Aronia berries are small, dark purple fruits from the aronia melanocarpa shrub, a hardy, deciduous plant native to North America. Slightly smaller than blueberries, they grow in tight clusters of 10-30 berries per stem. Aronia berries are deep purple throughout, thanks to their rich polyphenol content. Polyphenols are 'natural defenders', protecting from pests and environmental stress, making aronia naturally resilient, disease-resistant, and ideal for low-input organic farming. These same polyphenols, which help the plant defend itself, support the body's own ability to respond to stress, inflammation, and oxidative damage.
Grown With Nature, Not Against It
Aronia's natural resilience and deep roots, which allow them to outcompete most weeds, means the plants thrive without chemical inputs. This keeps the land free from artificial contaminants and allows other plants to grow in between the rows, attracting pollinators and beneficial insects.
The deep roots also penetrate compacted soil layers, drawing carbon downwards and improving aeration, supporting a thriving web of microorganisms, which collectively enhance soil structure and fertility. This means aronia is boosting biodiversity both above and below ground.
The Seasonal Cycle of Aronia
From blossom to berry and back to rest. A resilient, low‑input rhythm that underpins our organic approach.
Learn how this cycle powers polyphenols in every PhyterBerry product
A New Crop for a Better Future
PhyterBerry's goal is to source our aronia berries primarily from Irish organic farms and use the demand for our products to create a market for aronia that can drive improvements in agricultural diversity and sustainability. Steve's farm has shown that aronia thrives in Ireland, even on marginal land in harsh conditions, and we have developed a cultivation method tailored to the local environment. We've already helped other farmers establish aronia plantations by providing certified organic bushes, agronomic support, and a guaranteed purchase of harvest. This model offers Irish farmers an exciting new income and diversification opportunity, improving biodiversity and sustainability across upland farming communities.
Are you interested in joining a growing community of Irish farmers diversifying into aronia plants? A resilient crop that supports both income and ecology.
We provide plants, guidance and a guaranteed market for your organic harvest. Please get in touch with Steve's farm for more information.
From Fleece to Fertility
In their first year, aronia bushes are vulnerable to weeds, before the roots have travelled deep and so we protect them using wool from local hill sheep, spread in fleeces along the rows and topped with woodchips. This natural method locks in moisture, protects soil life, reduces erosion, and sets the plants up for success for the next 20 years.
By using wool, a resource that's become practically worthless in Irish agriculture, we create a new economic outlet for neighbouring farmers and reduce waste. It's a simple solution rooted in circular farming principles: waste becomes fertility, and everyone benefits.
Preserving Polyphenol Power
After harvest, our Irish grown organic aronia berries are carefully frozen to lock in their nutrients and increase juice yield, and then macerated and cold-pressed, before being held in a settling tank to remove sediment. The juice is then bottled, pasteurised, labelled and put into crates. This minimal processing ensures the delicate polyphenols (the compounds that make aronia so potent) remain intact. We don't use heat, additives, or artificial preservatives, just thoughtful science and clean methods that deliver the full benefit of the berry, exactly as nature intended. For our other products, we collaborate with health technology companies to concentrate the polyphenols in organic aronia berries to produce our powders and capsules, harnessing the latest cutting edge science and technology to ensure purity and quality.
The Journey from Soil to Supplement
It begins with soil and ends with science. Every berry follows a journey, rooted in regenerative agriculture and carefully processed to preserve peak polyphenol power.
Organic bushes rooted in healthy, living soil.
Resilient plants thrive without chemicals or sprays.
Picked at peak ripeness to lock in polyphenol power.
Minimal intervention to preserve nutrients, naturally.
Good for You. Good for the Land.
From our fields to your routine. The berries we grow organically and sustainably are transformed into a range of easy formats, to support your health as well as the planet.
PhyterBerry Aronia Juices
PhyterBerry Aronia Powders
PhyterBerry Aronia Capsules