After two years of pandemic, the event returned in person and presented a complete program with more than 40 important exhibitors.
More than 1,800 people attended the first day of Fruittrade, one of the most important conventions that brings together the Chilean fruit and vegetable industry. The event was held at the Metropolitan Santiago Convention and Event Center, formerly Casa Piedra, and featured various stands of service companies and products related to the agricultural world.
«We were eager to get together, and the DNA of farmers, of the entire fruit world, is to be together, because we have to go see the fruit, talk, do tests, technology, try products, so you can see that desire to get together; on this occasion (Fruittrade) has several focuses, however today we are focusing on very contingent things, we had a very bad season, last fruit season, the aftershock of the pandemic was one, but the most important was logistical, so today we are addressing how we can help each other to reduce this; it is not going to end overnight, But we believe that today we can all work together to improve logistics, reduce the problems we had, internal and external logistics, measures are already being taken, sharing is taking place, the system is a little calmer," said Jorge Valenzuela, President of Fedefruta.
The new version of Fruittrade, an event organized by the Federation of Fruit Producers of Chile, and which has the support of the Chilean government through the Department of agriculture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through its export promotion agency ProChile, was attended by the Minister of Agriculture, Esteban Valenzuela. The head of the portfolio participated in a plenary session led by the journalist and presenter Soledad Onetto, which also included the participation of Jorge Valenzuela, President of Fedefruta; during the event, an important recognition was given to Ronald Bown, who in September of this year left the presidency of Asoex.
The thematic axes of Fruittrade 2022 are oriented towards: emerging technologies, the future of work, food security, climate change and the value of Chilean fruit. The program of the first day included interesting presentations on different subjects, including Carlos Tapia, Advisor specializing in cherry production and Technical Director of Avium; as well as Walter Masman, Advisor and Consultant specializing in cherries and stone fruits.
«It is a pleasure to return to face-to-face events, with a lot of public, with a lot of organization; Fedefruta has always been characterized by good organization and having a great turnout for these Fruittrade fairs, so I am happy that they invited me and it is always an honor for me to generate information for the benefit of the cherry industry, so I am very happy and very pleased to be at this event providing timely and relevant information for the time.", Tapia said.
Walter Masman, for his part, also highlighted the event and referred to his exhibition "Cherry varieties to maintain leadership«: The event achieved its objective absolutely, many people, many colleagues, the entire industry gathered, an interesting event, especially in what one handles in the technical part together with what we did with Carlos Tapia and another colleague more related to the apple theme; in particular, I have to look at the topic of varieties, something very much requested in this last time, with the importance that the expansion of the planted surface in Chile is having, important advances in this last time of productions in the Fourth Northern Region, we are talking about Vicuña, I have no doubt that probably this will continue to expand a little more with varieties of very low requirements, therefore, our varietal offer of cherries in the medium-long term will begin to expand; so that is what the producers are looking for today, and each one in their point seeing the option of planting something different, new and particularly good, that is the big theme, there is a lot, but be careful, because not everything meets the characteristics that the product needs as we are seeing regarding the demands of the market., Masman warned.
In total, over the two days (October 12 and 13), there will be more than 40 thematically organized talks, addressing technical, commercial, technological, productive, management and innovation issues, among others.
Company stands
An important part of Fruittrade is also the area designated for the supply chain to display its products, services, supplies and machinery for the sector. It includes modular stands and an open-air area for displaying machinery, vehicles and other large items.
Smartcherry is present at stand A-05, where hundreds of people came during the first day to learn more about our platform specialized in cherry production, as well as companies interested in being part of our extensive supplier portal.
Also worth highlighting is the participation of several of our partners, including: Summitomo Chemical, Agrofresh, Adama, Frost Boss, Unitec, Anasac, Basf, Syngenta, Upl and Bioamérica.
The event will continue throughout the day on Thursday 13 October and will include a series of exhibitions in the different halls of the Santiago Convention and Event Center, formerly Casa Piedra.
