Chile is one of the most industrialized countries in Latin America and the fifth largest economy in the region, with its main activities being mining, tourism and agriculture. In all these areas there have been great advances, both in terms of production, technology and human resources, however, agriculture continues to have a large debt. The impressive growth that Chile has shown in the agricultural sector has unfortunately not covered the entire production chain.
Currently, our country is among the largest fruit exporters in the world; each year it sends more than three million tons to more than 100 international destinations; an example is the export of cherries that positions Chile as the main exporter of this fruit worldwide, with more than 415 thousand tons shipped during the 2022-23 campaign. However, the recent Agricultural and Forestry Census of the 2020-2021 agricultural season showed that 58.1 percent of agricultural workers carry out their work temporarily, which entails a series of conditions that are often precarious, harmful and highly unstable for men and women who provide services during the harvest season.
According to the statistics mentioned above, of a total of 1,206,882 people worked as agricultural workers, 700,643 (58.1%) were temporary and 506,239 permanent, that is, 58.1% of the total worked as seasonal workers. But this reality is far from being just shocking numbers, behind it there are informal jobs, precarious working conditions, and often even undignified scenarios in which seasonal workers must eat or relieve themselves.
It is in the face of this complex situation that Cosecha Chile was born, a Chilean company based in the city of Curicó, which seeks to dignify the work of harvesters, transforming this trade into a true profession, fully complying with labor requirements and offering a comprehensive solution to producers who each season must hire the sporadic services of men and women, through contractors who unfortunately do not always comply with labor laws, decent conditions, etc.
Hugo Soto: “We came to formalize and dignify seasonal agricultural work”

The CEO and Founder of Cosecha Chile, Hugo Soto, knows the reality of seasonal workers up close. Aware of this problem, he decided to create “Cosecha Chile”, an idea that gained strength after analyzing the degree of job satisfaction experienced by women and men in seasonal work. The conclusion was blunt: “a happy worker is much more productive and that is achieved through good treatment and fair pay.”
“Cosecha Chile” was born at the end of 2020 with the intention of formalizing seasonal work and thus improving the relationship between workers and producers. Currently, it offers qualified personnel for harvesting cherries, apples, pears, plums, strawberries, blueberries, kiwis; thinning, pruning, pollination, planting, grafting and, in general, all fruit-growing functions where specialized labor is required.
“Our project is focused on dignifying the work of harvesters through training, in addition to providing workers with tools that allow them to be responsible for their own income. We also want to become relevant actors in the fruit harvest in our country, generating an unprecedented model in Chile, where our collaborators will have different social benefits that they do not have access to today.”, explained Hugo Soto, CEO and founder of the company.
Among its main clients are the international DOLE and Agrícola Doña Susana, where a significant group of agricultural workers are currently working, who highlight the benefits of being part of Cosecha Chile.
“I have been working in the fields for 20 years, doing different things, but always as a seasonal worker. It is a job that I really like, but it is unstable and somewhat ungrateful in everything that has to do with the demands, the payment. But it is what I know how to do, that is what I am good at, so even though the conditions are not always the best, I always had to work just like that. With Cosecha Chile it is different, because I have a contract, they pay me the demands and one feels safe, valued, and they also train us and that helps us and the companies where we work,” Victor Quezada reflected, harvester.
Dole Production Manager, Juan Carlos Valenzuela, spoke about the service that Cosecha Chile is currently providing.
“I think it is a very good service for producers in general and, in addition, by creating loyalty among the people who are going to work for this company, a very good virtuous circle is created for the seasonal workers, who are going to have a lot of benefits and stable work for a longer period of time and that seems to me to be a very good idea as a project and I hope it will bear fruit. A worker who can somehow extend his work period, his stability, obviously for the benefit of himself and his family, I find that spectacular; what this project gives to the worker is stability and stability is always welcome in this field.”

The ambitious project is recruiting, through the platform www.cosechachile.cl, the best seasonal workers, who, through a registration form, leave their data, the work they do, areas in which they would like to work, among other information.
“Workers can register on our platform in a very simple way; the step-by-step process on the page is very user-friendly and requests various data that allow us to segment the work groups, whether by their skills, training level, geographic area, etc. Then, we make the relevant contacts, the interviews and thus generate a safe and appropriate selection process in response to the requirements of our clients, allowing them to only worry about production and not about recruiting staff, which has always been presented to them as a cumbersome task,” explained Chilean Harvest Supervisor Lenka Pizarro.
The service offered by Cosecha Chile provides benefits to both producers and seasonal workers, creating a connection between those who request work and those who perform said work, paying special attention to fulfilling all of the employer's obligations.

“Our workers have everything required by law; from their safety equipment to mutual insurance, so that they have timely care in case of accidents, whether at work or while traveling; we have a work plan aimed at caring for our workers and complying to the letter with what the law requires, which until now was pending in the world of agriculture,” said José Revelo, Crop Risk Preventionist at Chile.
In addition, Hugo Soto, founder and CEO of the company, highlighted the importance of workers as fundamental axes in the development of essential tasks for agriculture: “At Cosecha Chile we are clear that people are the most important thing in the productive processes of fruit growing. We are sure that we are the solution for agricultural companies in the area and the country, because in the medium term we will have first-class harvesters, great performance and quality, which will allow us to provide an excellent service. We know that we are capable of generating a strategic alliance where the dignity of people and economic profitability for both parties prevail.”
Former Minister of Agriculture and current president of the National Society of Agriculture (SNA), Antonio Walker, highlighted the Cosecha Chile project and referred to the need to dignify and professionalize the work of seasonal workers.
“We want to support the work of Cosecha Chile with great conviction. It is very important to professionalize labor relations, the work of seasonal workers. They do the harvest, load adjustments, pruning. They are practically 9-10 months a year working in Chilean agriculture. That is why we have to support them, protect them. They have the right to dignify their work. That is why social security, good transportation, complying with good agricultural practices, the right to know, to wear glasses, a hockey helmet, to have very good work tools, with hygiene and safety conditions on the premises are so important. I believe that the work that Cosecha Chile is doing, by incorporating social workers to also take care of the families of the workers, incorporating daycare centers, kindergartens so that the workers have somewhere to leave their children, is part of what Chilean agriculture deserves, the professionalization and dignification of its workers.” Antonio Walker emphasized.
Training, benefits and fair work
At Cosecha Chile, there are two essential paths that allow us to achieve the goal of dignifying the work of seasonal workers. On the one hand, training workers and, on the other, operating under the concept of fair payment.
“Our company has a plan that includes a strong investment in ongoing training through an OTEC-SENCE (Technical Training Organization), where through ongoing education, workers will become true professionals, generating a greater and better contribution to the industry, as well as increasing their capabilities. Equally important is fair payment and treatment, which also involves a series of benefits that will improve the quality of life of workers; we will comply with all social laws, something that may seem obvious, but unfortunately in the agricultural sector in Chile it does not happen. We will provide work options for most of the year, we will look for the fields closest to their homes, to avoid long trips and thus be able to privilege more hours of sleep and rest,” added Hugo Soto.
In the medium and long term, Cosecha Chile's commitment is even more ambitious; agreements with pharmacies, supermarkets, medical centers, summer cottages for the Cosecha Chile family with discounted installments and 0% interest and free nursery for working mothers are some of the benefits they hope to deliver to those who are part of this innovative project. At the same time, workers will be able to opt for better pensions, since they will be imposed on their real salary, which will also allow them, if they require it, bank financing or other financial possibilities.
“For those of us who are mothers, it is always difficult to be able to work; many times we have to leave our children alone or in the care of other people, neighbors, in order to go to work in the fields and earn a daily living; having a nursery, and on top of that, free of charge, would be a great benefit for all of us, so I want to thank Cosecha Chile for thinking about an important problem faced by seasonal women, but which no one seems to see,” said Angelica Rojas, a seasonal mother.
Cosecha Chile is presented as an ambitious and unprecedented project that seeks to radically change the non-compliance and irregularities of seasonal agricultural work in Chile and, at the same time, be an important support for producers, offering qualified labor; the above, having as its main premise to dignify a task that is often forgotten, but which represents great value within the agricultural production chain: “We came to formalize and dignify seasonal agricultural work,” concluded Hugo Soto, founder and CEO of Cosecha Chile.