One of the keys to the progress of fruit growing today is the amount of information available. On the one hand, thanks to the Internet, the media and those who do extension work, but also because of the possibility of comparing what is done in each region and in each country. Thus, what for one farmer may be pure theory, for another is day-to-day practice. Therefore, visits to other productive areas can be an excellent incentive to change the ways in which certain things are done, to learn about new technologies or simply to exchange ideas.
Invited by the company David del Curto and Viveros Copequen (owned by David del Curto), members of the Technology Transfer Group (GTT) Cerezas del Sur participated in a technical tour to the areas of Coyhaique and Chile Chico, in the Aysén region, as well as a tour to the town of Los Antiguos, in Argentine Patagonia.
The properties visited included both fields and packing plants and were: in Los Antiguos, that of Alejandro Zimermann, while in Chile Chico they were those of Jorge Vega, Javier Cereceda, Francisco Galleguillos, Agrícola Chile Chico SpA. and Montaña Ridge SpA., which successfully produce exclusive Summerland varieties such as Staccato and Sentennial, which is the latest variety in the Southern Hemisphere.
The tour aimed to see the cherry harvesting processes, as well as the logistics and packaging used by producers in that latitude. Regarding this experience, Jan Verbeken, from Huerto Borde Río SpA, commented that he was positively struck by the issue of wind management with natural and artificial curtains. The balance between frost and bacterial cancer controls that are in contrast to each other, in addition to the difficulties associated with connectivity and location.
Donald Brunet, producer manager for David del Curto, and Maritza Espinoza, head of Sales and After-Sales at Viveros Copequen, said that it has been a great challenge to organize this technical tour, as well as a tremendous opportunity to provide support and confidence to a group of pioneering producers in a new area for the southern part of our country.
