On Wednesday, August 23, the main annual convention of Chilean fruit producers, Fruittrade 2023, was inaugurated, which brought together 1,500 attendees on its first day, including farmers, exporters and people linked to the industry in Chile and abroad.
The event took place on Wednesday and Thursday at the Metropolitan Santiago and addressed, among other topics, the effects of recent rains and future climate change and the main research and development technologies in the area.
The opening day was opened by Michael Bailey, Director of Small Tractor and High Value Crop Production Systems at John Deere, who demonstrated the technology of tractors that do not require pilots and that carry out work commanded from a telephone.
The president of the Federation of Fruit Producers of Chile (FEDEFRUTA), Jorge Valenzuela, indicated that “Currently there are robots that are applying herbicides, controlled from a phone, there are agrochemicals that are applied through drones, today the question is which of these machines emits less noise for sustainability reasons, so as not to disturb the environment.”
Along with this he specified that “We are very optimistic in the agricultural sector, but we need a dose of global reality, so at Fruittrade 2023 we will find out, for example, what will happen to China, which consumes 45 percent of our fruit.”
In her initial greeting, the Undersecretary of Agriculture, Ignacia Fernandez, pointed out that “We have been working on strengthening agricultural attachés, to strengthen the representation of the Ministry of Agriculture through ProChile. We want to strengthen our presence in Asia, probably opening a new attaché office. Recently, the SAG made a tour to Asia to continue the phytosanitary agenda for plums, peaches, apricots, and apples, to advance on the path of new and more markets for Chilean export products.”
Fernández highlighted the progress in phytosanitary opening in fresh plums for the United States in 2022 and in lemons for Mexico in 2023, “This is a priority for us too,” he added.
For his part, Ignacio Fernández, Director of Prochile, said in his inaugural speech “During 2022, fruit shipments totaled around USD5 billion and so far this year they are already USD3.8 billion, which is going quite well”
“One of the important brands is 'Cherries from Chile' which has achieved resounding success, not only due to the work of ProChile, but fundamentally due to the excellent work being done by the private sector to promote cherry exports,” he added.
He highlighted the work being done in Asia to continue to deepen the presence in these markets inside and outside China. “Another relevant market is undoubtedly India. In July we had a public-private mission and we were able to see first-hand how fruit is an ambassador for our country in the different markets. We are reaching places that one would not have imagined and that generates great pride and a very powerful sense of opportunity. Since 2007, when our partial trade agreement was signed, trade with India has grown by around 500%, so there is enormous potential that we must continue to work on. Without a doubt, apples, kiwis, cherries, grapes and blueberries have tremendous potential.”
More than forty talks
The event was organized by FEDEFRUTA and supported by the Ministry of Agriculture's Fund for the Promotion of Agricultural and Forestry Exports, through ProChile. More than 70 stands of companies from the fruit auxiliary industry and more than 40 technical talks on the market, marketing, technology and export of Chilean fruit have taken place over these two days.
The thematic axes were Market Diversification and Exploration; Research and Development; Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture; Financing and Economy; Consumer Trends; Climate Change and Sustainability.
cherry room
On Thursday, Carlos Tapia, a specialist advisor on cherry production, co-founder of Smartcherry and founder and technical director of Avium, spoke at the cherry show, where he gave a detailed overview of cherry production in Chile and presented the latest research carried out with his team.
