Cherries produced in Mendoza kick off the 2022-23 campaign with one of the earliest harvests in the Southern Hemisphere.
On October 21, the company Güizzo Frutas Frescas SA from Mendoza began the commercial harvest of the earliest varieties of cherries; this work normally begins in week 42 and extends until week 5 of the following year. Normally this beginning of the season coincides with the prime of Ovalle, in the Fourth region of our country, however in the north they expect to start in week 43 with the harvest.
Güizzo Frutas Frescas SA, a company established in Mendoza more than 40 years ago, has specialized in the production of early cherry varieties and sells them mainly to foreign markets (65%) as well as to the Argentine domestic market (35%).
“We started the season with the varieties of the Royal series developed by the Californian geneticist Zaiger, which makes it possible to harvest them in the northern area of Mendoza from week 42”, says Nicolás Güizzo Giudice, Technical Manager of the Mendoza company.
During the last season, Argentina exported more than 7,000 tons of cherries to different parts of the world; the company Güizzo Frutas Frescas manages cherry production on 45 hectares distributed mainly in the northern area of Mendoza, as well as in other productive areas of the province of the same name and in the northwest of Argentina.
Engineer Nicolás Güizzo anticipates that “Our goal for 5 years is to be able to advance the start of
harvest at week 41 in Mendoza, and even at week 40 in other areas of northern Argentina where the company is already conducting trials with varieties that require low winter cold.”
The professional also added that: “Our biggest gap is the availability of plant material. The limitation is the limited availability of rootstocks and varieties that can adapt to the different soil and climate conditions found in the different areas we have been studying. In Mendoza as well as in certain micro-areas of central-northern Argentina, it is possible to produce early cherries with lower requirements in cold areas,” he concluded.
Although China is the main market for cherry exports, the trans-Andean industry has been building a market diversification plan for a couple of years, with the United States and Europe also being the main recipients of the 7,000 tons of this fruit produced annually.
