16 interesting presentations and a field trip made up this innovative seminar that brought together the different actors in the cherry industry; topics such as irrigation, early varieties, commercial and technical aspects were part of the two-day event.
More than 250 attendees, including producers, potential producers, suppliers of inputs and services, academics, experts, advisors and students participated in the important event organized by Susttex Consultores, a company headed by its Manager Aldo Morales. The event was the technical and commercial meeting point for the cherry industry produced in the central-northern region, an unprecedented event in this sector of the country.
«Two intense days, the reality exceeded expectations, we had a very good response from the public, from the producers who the event was aimed at, from those who are already with their first productions, others who are planting and others who wanted to see what possibilities the valley offers us to be able to grow cherries; the objective of the seminar was to provide a complete veneer of content that could be relevant when making decisions,» said Jorge Astudillo, Founder of the International Seminar on Primores Cherries and Technical Advisor for Cherries and Olives at Susttex Consultores.
The opening day of the event featured seven presentations; the opening talk was given by Gamalier Lemus, who talked about the first experiences of cherry cultivation in the northern region.
«In agronomy, the only way for knowledge to be useful is for farmers to take it, make it their own and develop it. So this seminar that we are experiencing shows us that moment in which producers have appropriated knowledge, they are doing it and there is one thing that should make us agronomists very happy: producers are more efficient than theorists in doing things. We are seeing that the area today has production levels and quality comparable to any other part of the world, something that 10 years ago was impossible, it seemed like a utopia. Living this change of switch, this turning point between an area that did not produce something and one that produces it very well, is a real pleasure, a pride, personally it is very enriching to live this moment», indicated Gamalier Lemus, Agricultural Engineer, M. Sc., specialist in cherry stone and cultivation.
The topic “Cherry physiology in the northern region” was also addressed in the interesting presentation given by Karen Sagredo, Agricultural Engineer, PhD, specialist in fruit growing, integrated fruit production, winter break and floral biology: «It was very good to start with the presentation of Gamalier Lemus because it started there and we come from behind with this interest in getting out early, having cherries with low cold requirements and finding the best areas for those cherries; here the interests and collaboration of many actors have come together, state funds, Corfo, private companies, small farmers, Inia, universities, I think it has been a joint effort, which although not very organized, has achieved the results that there are, now there is a lot of potential and now we have to get organized and try to continue at a steady pace.»
“Agronomic and financial considerations for the establishment and management of cherry trees in the north” was the third talk of the first day and was given by Advisor Ricardo Miño. Finally, Jan Weinreich spoke about precocity systems in cherry trees: «Through the use of technology one can promote or facilitate the accumulation of cold hours, as well as, and what we came to show in this instance specifically, to create a greenhouse effect to accumulate degree days and advance production and there one can play by completing the lack of cold hours or enhancing degree days.«.
During the afternoon session, topics such as "Keys to the nutritional optimization of prime cherries" were analyzed by the Agricultural Engineer Lucas Ferrada, who is theExpert in plant nutrition and soil managementIn addition, a talk was given on “Biosolutions at the forefront for cherry trees” by Gonzalo Ugarte, Biosolutions Coordinator at Adama Chile.
“It is a very interesting opportunity to present what we are doing as a company. Although Adama has a very important international reputation in terms of traditional phytosanitary products, today we are making a very large investment in developing technologies in the area of innovation. We want to contribute with the new technologies that are coming our way.”, the specialist highlighted.
Maximiliano Valdés also spoke during the opening day and talked about new tools for cherry trees: «From a technical point of view, this is not the ideal area for cherry trees because it lacks cold hours, but commercially it has a very good sales window, we are talking about the end of October, beginning of November in the Japanese market, which has prices that cannot be reproduced in other areas, so it is worth it today and with the technology that exists in terms of rootstock and new varieties, and this type of product like the ones I have shown today, to obtain qualities that give a very good return.", he pointed out.
The first day ended with a visit to the experimental plot of the cherry genetic improvement program, Inia-Biofrutales, led by José Manuel Donoso, Agricultural Engineer, Doctor in Genetics, specialist in Genetic Improvement in Fruit Trees.
Second day
It is estimated that the area currently devoted to cherry cultivation in the Limarí Valley area exceeds 300 hectares, with a growth rate of 100 hectares per year. Although in terms of surface area, what is planted in the northern area does not represent a large percentage of the more than 60 thousand hectares currently in Chile, the delicacies of this area are of great commercial importance. When the harvest and export of the first cherries in Chile begin, there is no supply of this fruit anywhere else in the world.
This last topic was one of those discussed during the second day of the seminar; Marcos Mora, an agricultural engineer from the University of Chile and a Doctor in Economics, gave an interesting presentation on the value of producing in the off-season.
«It is a very particular region that has the characteristic of producing a fruit that is not available anywhere else in the world and that has a price and that price is what makes producers happy. Here we are talking about very high prices that allow even with low yields to have good profits, it is the cost of being in a part of the planet where there is practically very little competition, especially for the main market in the world which is China; in the southern hemisphere, Chile is by far the most important, of those that supply the northern hemisphere, that is, of the hemisphere's exports, 95 percent come from Chile», Mora confirmed.
Eight other speakers analyzed topics such as the air market; experiences, customs and the real value of cherries in China; Pro Chile and its role in internationalization; and "irrigation in prime cherries", the latter by Arturo Calderón, specialist in fruit species and vines, Academic of the Faculty of Agronomy of the University of Concepción.
«As long as there is responsibility for water and this use is responsible and under the responsibility is to try to make it as sustainable as possible; today we are in an agro-climatic contingency, but also a socio-political one, where the responsibility of agriculture with respect to the use of water is essential. Today agriculture is going through a questioning of the use of water, fruit growing demands a lot of water, therefore not only from the point of view that we are going to lack water and that we have to be prepared in terms of production, but we have to show that fruit growing is a responsible economic activity and for that we have to apply conservation techniques and within those are some of the ones that I promote, such as the use of plant parameters to be able to regulate the moments of irrigation and with that achieve important savings without reducing the quantity and quality of fruit», Calderon commented.
Guillermo León, Zonal Head of the 3rd and 4th Syngenta region, who spoke about solutions for cherries, thanked the event and highlighted the relevance of the event: «We appreciate the invitation to participate in this first seminar, given that it is a highly profitable crop, with little knowledge in the area, therefore all the participants in the grill try to clarify what we have to decipher within the crop; the interest based on the precocity and the harvest date that we have, that is where we have a tremendous opportunity to be able to jump into the cherry boom as a region.
There were also talks about viruses and bacteria in cherry trees, sustainable biostimulation, among others.
“It is very interesting. It is a crop that is growing in an interesting way, that has other types of management and if the surface area is increasing, it is important that activities are carried out here, that experiences and developments are shared, because producing here is different than in the south, so we need other experiences, other programs and other types of information that we have to collect,” said María Paz Rosés, from the company CODA – Agrointegral and speaker at the event.
Alan Zamorano, Biochemist from the University of Chile, Doctor in Forestry and Agricultural Sciences, specialist in Plant Pathology, presented on «Plant Pathology beyond fungi: viruses and bacteria in cherry trees»: «Being a new cherry production hub, this type of meeting is very important. The number of interactions generated between producers is striking, as it shows that there was a long period of time without contact, so the exchange of ideas accumulated over three years is very good. It is also relevant because the delivery of additional information, which producers often do not have access to, helps them make important decisions regarding production, also hoping that this crop will increase in surface area in this region.”
There were also international exhibitors; Fernando Güizzo, Commercial Manager of Güizzo Frutas fresca, spoke about the industry's experience with early cherry in Mendoza, Argentina: “It seems like a dream come true if you look at it from a production point of view, because for 15 years I have been following the research work on the technical feasibility of being able to produce early cherries here in the Fourth Region and what better time than this to be able to show the reality of these productions, taking into account that everything that has been cherry production of medium and late cherry has had difficulties in the last three years in its commercialization, especially in quality problems; in the relationship with us, particularly with Mendoza, it is logically the enrichment from the technical point of view and finding empathy in a lot of strengths, weaknesses that the crop presents in our region as in ours.”
The First International Seminar on Primores Cherries also had a large area of stands, where companies in the agricultural sector presented their products and services for the production of cherries. Among them were several of our partners: Adama, Agralia, Anasac, Compo Expert, Syngenta, Sqm, Stoller, Tattersall, Tavan, UPL; in addition, MBL was a sponsor of the event and Viveros COpequén participated as an assistant; this participation will be detailed in a following note.
The initiative organized by Susttex Consultores drew applause from those present, who unanimously highlighted the organization of the event, its scope and contribution to the cherry industry.
