For several years now, there has been talk of varietal replacement in cherry production. Various tests are being carried out and a significant part of the industry's attention is focused on this challenge. Grape growers are well aware of this, having faced the same scenario several years ago. What can be learned from this process? What can the table grape industry contribute to this task? We spoke to Drago Ljubetic, fruit consultant and director of Uvanova.
You come from the world of table grapes and of course we would like to know about your experience and how the topic developed with the management of table grape varieties. What experience can you bring to the cherry industry?
«There is a significant difference with respect to when we had to participate in the varietal replacement of table grapes. What we proposed at the time with very soft competition at a global level, at the time when we produced, we were the kings, the ones in charge. Then came the varietal change and I would say that the concern was how to replace that variety that is currently on the market, that I am producing but that gives me other characteristics superior to the one I have, knowing that I would have to pay a royalty and we demand that the varieties be very fertile, that is, that they have a large supply of fruit.
Unlike cherries, we have a hard time obtaining fruit from traditional varieties that are very fertile, large in size, have a very nice color, and also have a very good post-harvest life, which has not been very often achieved, but which is essentially cheaper to produce. It was a variety that, at critical moments when more money is spent on a vine, was very simple and very cheap to manage because we felt that the business was putting pressure on us due to costs, and this varietal change was made, with an important difference from what is happening here with cherries. We started a little behind in the issue of varietal replacement compared to our competition for two reasons: because our main competition, Peru, started from scratch by planting new varieties. My first variety is a new variety. We had already had a replacement of two or three generations of varieties, and also because of how the issue of varieties was managed; "License was granted to those exporters who were licensed to export and if one looked at the export palette, the 30% was for large exporters, the 70% for small exporters or exporting producers and when you tried to enter, if you were from a large exporter, then you were not entitled to this program and that was adjusted over time."
On the path to varietal replacement of table grapes, Peru took advantage of what was happening with the industry in Chile, to learn and grow.
«Our varietal change was much slower than we would have liked because there was a barrier in terms of being able to export the fruit. I had to join traditional exporters and that meant they came in a little later. But when we managed to have these varieties, other things also came up: we didn't have the user manual, we thought it was better, we tried many varieties, some failed, others were successful. At the same time, Peru began to grow, learning from us, from our failures, from our successes, learning with technical assistance from Chileans in general. They were advancing rapidly and we began to find that we were changing a world, which does not happen so much in cherry trees; we started from plants of old varieties on plants on their own foot, not rootstock, and we were just using rootstocks which is a formula one and we put a new variety. So if I learned to take the lead of a traditional variety like Thompson in 20 years and I put it on rootstock and it was getting away from me, today I put a new rod that I do not know on a rootstock, therefore it was much more unknown, it was hard to be able to adapt to have good results.«.
In this varietal replacement, according to Dragomir Ljubetic, it is essential to continue maintaining the prestige of the Chilean cherry, and this is done with very good quality fruit.
«So we were in that change that forced us to change quickly, but tremendous competition appeared, with very powerful quality and we have not yet been able to adapt to a rapid change of producing optimal fruit and that point of labor that we have not wanted to abandon because it is cheaper, I think that today we have to introduce a finer management of the varieties, a more delicate management of the variables to produce a top product, because the market wants to pay top price but for top fruit.
There we had this problem, that unlike cherries, there is not such strong competition from other countries, but there is a peak production period that will have to be very fine, very clear to stay with those that you consider correct. I heard that Santina was the queen, but Santina can fall quickly if we produce bad Santina. In addition, there is one thing, Chile exports 47% of cherries in the world, the producer, the advisors, the carriers have a tremendous responsibility to give prestige or discredit to a product and a variety because we are the references. In the end, when they look at us, where are they going to look for cherries and if Chile has bad Santina, the variety from Chile is bad. There is a tremendous responsibility.«.
What is the objective that should prevail for the cherry industry when choosing a new variety?
«When you choose a new variety, you have to be clear about two important things: I'm going to have to pay a royalty on top of the sale price, that is, I'm going to have to share this business with a partner who I may not have wanted to have, but who owns the variety, so I have a partner, I have to answer to him and I have to pay him, therefore my margin is reduced. So, when I decide to put in a new variety, from my point of view, I have to put one where there are very few varieties and I can increase my volume, not in the peak periods, but in the flatter periods of this production curve that we have.
I wish I could plant a variety, either very early or very late, that has superior characteristics to those I have today, and that is post-harvest, crunchiness, travel capacity, colors, and that the caliber is really superior. But the scheme becomes complicated when I have to replace a variety like Santina and Lapins, which is also a very powerful variety. I say, if I am going to plant a new variety, do I really want to be the pretty one in the movie? But I have variety number 42676-P, which is not superior to Santina. So in simple terms, I have to get rid of Santina with the new variety: it has to be more travel-friendly than Santina, bigger, more productive, easier to produce than Santina. Otherwise I should not, I do not see any possibility of a replacement. And what we try to do is that I have Santina 2.0, which is the one I planted for you, therefore I am going to try to get away from Santina because I want to be better than that variety, the truth is that I do not want to be able to grow it.«.
«Do not induce the market» is another of the specialist's recommendations. Dragomir Ljubetic, fruit consultant and director of Uvanova, points out: «Give prestige to the variety that you have at the moment, which today has value, has a price, and don't try to replace it because I have something that I think is better, and the market tells me, you know, I don't want your 25mm Santina and we have 25mm 50%, so find me something bigger. Let the market lead me, we don't induce the market. I'll put it to you this way, we had caliber ranges of 16 to 18 millimeters, 18 to 20 and over 20 for table grapes. The first thing we did was change the standard from 20 to 22, from 22 to 24, we set ourselves a trap: I started to demand what was the Jumbo caliber, now my caliber is small.. So I would tell them that if they are going to look for a variety that allows them to replace the important varieties today, it has to be truly superior and for that, unfortunately, cherry takes longer to produce than table grapes, it takes longer to tell me “you made a mistake” and that means more money. Work, study, share information because that is extremely important, especially the transfer between technicians and producers.«.
Recalling the latter, you have raised the need to have a regulatory body to share information. Tell us more about that., please.
«What was raised at some point and what some countries did, is that the State and in this case the Ministry of Agriculture, regulates volumes, quantities, qualities. I do not like that an entity that does not participate in the business regulates, because it does not know, it is not there, it does not know where the shoe does not pinch and I believe that a committee of cherries should be formed, but not of the exporters, of the producers and of the advisors, in which they share information, transfer technology, make technical tours within the country. They should learn, they should make experimental orchards to be able to learn together and that they themselves regulate themselves, that they themselves make decisions with information, not that someone imposes information on me.
The worst thing that can happen to someone is to make a decision and realize that they didn't have the information to make it, because for me the data kills the story. The story is that I want to produce cherries, but the data is that there is a variety that is super good, put with a ceiling that I'm going to put here, that data kills the story of what I want to do, and the important thing is that in the case of table grapes, nectarines and peaches, which I'm also involved in, in citrus fruits as well, it has to be a country story, it doesn't have to be a fact for this to continue working.«, concluded Dragomir Ljubetic.
