A significant discussion was held at the Spanish Stadium in the city of Linares, organized by Compo Expert, a leading company dedicated to plant nutrition management. The event brought together experts in the agricultural field and producers interested in learning more about the post-harvest of cherries, the impact of climate change and plant nutrition strategies.
Luis Flores, commercial manager of Compo Expert, highlighted the importance of addressing these issues in a context marked by climate change and the adversities experienced last season in Chile. He highlighted the importance of post-harvest as the start of the next season and underlined the company's commitment to providing quality tools for agronomic management to its clients.
“Having this type of conversation with people like Carlos Tapia, who we consider a fundamental contribution to the growth and development of cherry cultivation currently in Chile, is a direct complement to what our other speaker, Rodrigo Ortega, contributes to, since he refers to the integrated management of nutrition, in terms of sustaining soil and water resources, reducing everything that involves the carbon footprint, being more efficient and rational in the concept of nitrogen fertilization, whether using stabilized nitrogen or using nitrification inhibitors,” said Flores.
The meeting was attended by leading specialists in the field, including Carlos Tapia, a renowned specialist in cherry production and founder of Avium, and Rodrigo Ortega, a nutrition and soil consultant and professor at the Federico Santa María University.
Rodrigo Ortega stressed the need to be close to producers in order to understand their needs and face the challenges of climate change. He advocated for the exchange of knowledge and the delivery of tools that allow for better management of orchards and post-harvest.
“It is necessary to be close to the producers, to see their needs, their requirements, in a context of climate change, where they face something unknown, such as climate change in its different manifestations, and to adapt to it, we need greater knowledge and the idea of this type of meeting is to give them those tools and knowledge, so that they can carry out better post-harvest management, and better management of orchards in general with a view to biotic and abiotic stress, and climate change,” said the professor and advisor.
For his part, Carlos Tapia highlighted the interactive and enriching nature of the discussion, stating that: “A great event in conjunction with Rodrigo Ortega, specialist in nutrition and soil management and with the people from Compo Expert, with a very good number of participants, with many questions, very interactive, in which we addressed topics of nutrition and post-harvest, in addition to an analysis of what was the past season in terms of factors that influenced production and all a special work that we have done with Avium and that is published in Smartcherry, where some important indicators were revealed.”
In turn, Gonzalo Ramos Moya, Agronomist and Producer Advisor at Unifrutti, who attended the discussion organized by Compo Expert, said about the initiative that, “these instances are very useful to better understand a season that presented many difficulties from beginning to end, understanding the different factors that ended up influencing production to a greater or lesser extent. At the same time, it allows for greater clarity on how we should approach the post-harvest, keeping the plant's requirements and the soil's contributions in balance.”
The event was characterized by a participatory atmosphere, with a significant number of attendees and a dynamic of questions and exchange of experiences that enriched the debate. In short, the discussion represented a fundamental space for updating and strengthening knowledge about cherry production, climate change and plant nutrition.
