In an effort to consolidate and strengthen the cherry industry, the Second International Seminar on Prime Cherries was held with great success in the city of Ovalle. This event brought together a distinguished group of experts, cherry producers, farmers and suppliers with the purpose of promoting the sustainable growth and development of this important industry in the region.
The seminar provided a unique platform for networking, exploring the latest trends and technologies, as well as learning from successful experiences around cherry cultivation in the area. Over two intensive days, around 250 participants benefited from a variety of presentations and activities designed to promote knowledge sharing and collaboration between the various stakeholders in the sector.
Jorge Astudillo, production manager of Valle Arriba SPA and co-founder of the Primores Cherry Seminar, expressed his satisfaction with the high turnout and enthusiasm generated by the event. Astudillo highlighted the importance of sharing experiences and knowledge, stating: “First of all, I was happy with the turnout, we had the board turned, with all the reserved spaces full. This event started with the words of welcome from Aldo and also from the director of ProChile, thanks to whom this seminar is also possible and I had the obligation to open the fire with a talk that talks about the reality, experience and why we are making cherries here in Ovalle.”
For his part, Aldo Morales, general manager of Susttex and also co-founder of the seminar, highlighted the successful closing of the event at Agrícola Santo Tomás, where fundamental topics were addressed, including soil analysis and innovative agricultural practices.
"It has been a significant effort on the part of our group of people, but we have seen it rewarded through displays of affection and gratitude from the attendees, which translates into a quality seminar, where different topics related to cherries were presented," Morales said first.
Furthermore, the general manager of Susttex added that, “this seminar is accompanied by the phrase 'road to consolidation', since we believe that this event comes to consolidate an idea and an interest, that Ovalle is an area in which we believe that it will have a larger surface area than it has in terms of cultivation and its economic importance will be very high.”
The seminar left a lasting impression on the participants. The idea of consolidation was emphasized, both in terms of the cherry industry in Ovalle and in terms of collaboration and articulation between different actors.
In this regard, Natalia Arcos, international director of ProChile, expressed her enthusiasm for the potential of this emerging crop in the area.
Regarding the above, the representative of ProChile argued that: “We are very happy to be participating and supporting this activity and, in addition, we realize that it is a product that is being developed in this region, which we had not seen before and which has tremendous potential. As we also saw in the various exhibitions, China is going to become a relevant market for this region and we are very happy to provide this support in the internationalization process.”
On the other hand, Tomás Araya, owner and producer of Agrícola Santo Tomás, shared in his remarks how the seminar helped address key challenges for local producers, such as packaging and exporting cherries.
“The challenges we had as producers were the packaging and export of cherries and thanks to this seminar, which was first held last year and with the one this year, we were able to talk with Teno Fruit and they will be the ones who will bring their processing lines to the Seiko meat processing plant, to be able to carry out the processes from here in the region.”
Likewise, Facundo Quiros, manager of the Mendoza Cherry Chamber, highlighted the importance of institutional coordination and technology in the production of early cherries, and pointed out how collaboration between different regions can help face common challenges, such as climate change.
“We have been there since the first seminar, where we began to build a relationship with different people from the Chilean industry and several of them participated in the Second Early Cherry Seminar that we held in Mendoza and the conclusion of this event is the institutional articulation that we have already committed to deepen with Ovalle, since the greatest challenge of producing early cherries is climate change and obviously, knowing how to adapt to the different production areas, with the application of the technology that is required, and that we see is present here and that obviously has the excellent results that we are seeing,” argued Quiros.
In summary, the Second International Seminar on Primores Cherries turned out to be a significant milestone for the cherry industry in Ovalle and its surroundings. The event not only provided a space for education and knowledge exchange, but also strengthened the collaboration network between experts, producers and key players in the industry, laying the foundation for sustainable and prosperous growth in the future.
