The event, which will take place in Italy, will feature interesting events, including exhibitors, a training school, guided tours, among others.
Emilia-Romagna will be the world capital of cherries at the International Cherry Symposium (ICS), which will take place from 2 to 6 May this year. An international event with the sector's elite that will offer several events during the week: two days of advanced training at the Bertinoro residential centre (2 and 3 May); a world symposium on the most important cherry themes (sustainability, variety innovation, planting technology and covers) organised at Macfrut in Rimini (4 May); an event with the region's key players on global market trends (5 May); guided tours with the main companies that will be present at Macfrut (5 May); a tour with the main cherry producers to learn about the product's innovations first-hand (6 May).
The full programme of the ICS was recently presented by its organisers at a press conference, which was attended by some of the leading researchers and companies in the sector.
Each event is presented in detail below.
Higher Education School. Bertinoro, May 2 and 3
The activities of the School of Advanced Training on the topic of "Sustainable orchard management in a changing environment» will take place at Bertinoro (University Residential Centre). The fruit growing system, in particular the cherry sector, is facing immense challenges due to climatic, social and economic changes, and an increasingly widespread globalisation. The programme includes 10 seminars on the main topics related to sustainable orchard management together with interactive activities between PhD students, professionals and teachers. The two-day events will be led and coordinated by the three organising universities (Bologna, Modena and Reggio Emilia and UNIVPM, Università Politecnica delle Marche) with the help of international speakers and cherry tree specialists. The school's activities will be conducted in English with a limited number of places: 30 places reserved for PhD students and young researchers and 30 for professionals from all over the world.
International Cherry Symposium. Macfrut Rimini Expo Center May 4
The world's leading cherry experts are meeting on the first day of Macfrut at the International Cherry Symposium 2022. The congress will feature experts from the USA, Chile, Germany, France and Italy to address key cherry-related topics: from the economic sustainability of new cherry trees and biotechnology applied to variety innovation, to precision technology applied to production, defense and post-harvest.
Cherry Global Players. Macfrut Rimini Expo Center May 5
A morning event that aims to meet some of the world's leading companies operating in the production and marketing of cherries in order to compare global market strategies in the six leading countries in the sector: Turkey, Chile, the United States, Uzbekistan, Spain and Italy.
Guided tours at the fair. Macfrut Rimini Expo Center May 5
The afternoon events (from 3pm to 6pm) will focus on product and process innovations that the cherry industry has introduced thanks to research: varieties and rootstocks, multifunctional cover systems, processing and packaging technology. A group of professional experts will guide Macfrut 2022 participants through a series of dedicated visits to tour the stands of major companies that have invested in the cherry sector.
Cherry Blossom Tour. Vignola and Cesena May 6
Discover first-hand the innovations that have been introduced in the cherry sector. All this in two field visits to nurseries, farms and establishments that produce cherries, in a region that has about 3 thousand hectares dedicated to cherry cultivation. There will be a tour of the Vignola cherry production area, characterized by the high specialization of the facilities and the high quality of the PGI cherries. A second tour will take Macfrut 2022 guests to the hills of Cesena to discover modern implant systems that use organic or biodynamic production techniques.
The experts speak
Two of the world's leading cherry experts have participated in the press conference to present the ICS.
Greg Lang, from Michigan State University (USA) gives his point of view on the innovative solutions that he would recommend to a fruit grower who wants to plant cherry trees. “Since planting an orchard is a multi-decade commitment, it is essential to anticipate possible technological developments over the next 25 years – just think of the speed at which technology has evolved over the past quarter century. I would therefore recommend all cherry growers to use support structures and a narrow-canopy (flat) cultivation system that allows for mechanical pruning. I also recommend the use of motorised platforms for workers, tractor-mounted machine vision cameras, drones or autonomous vehicles to collect images and data, and to use the support structure not only for growing cherry trees, but also to install protective measures in the orchard, such as nets to protect against rain, hail or insects.”
Moritz Knoche, from the University of Hannover (Germany), has focused on the latest research to contrast the phenomenon of cherry cracking. “New results have emerged related to this problem. The so-called ‘zipper model’ remains the most widely recognized explanation for cracking. The peel opens like a zipper along the pectins of the middle lamella of the thickened cell walls. Calcium can stop this process, but a calcium concentration in the peel cell walls would be required which is difficult to obtain even after foliar fertilizers have been applied several times. Numerous investigations claim that the idea of the cherry seen as a homogeneous container of sweet juice is wrong. It has been shown that the distribution of sugars in the fruit is heterogeneous, probably because the absorption process inside the fruit through the vascular system is faster than the distribution. This explains the great variability of the cracking phenomenon and provides a reasonable explanation regarding the fact that cherries can crack even after packaging.”
More information and registration here.
