With 72 workers, including 60 harvesters, 6 quality and selection managers, 2 crew chiefs, 2 tractor drivers, a truck driver and a crane driver, the harvest is being carried out at Agrícola Agropaxi located in the Isla de Marchant sector, Rauco commune, Maule region.
This is a 20-hectare plot of land in production and 10 hectares in training, which includes Royal Dawn, Santina, Lapins, Bing, Regina varieties, among others, with an annual production of 200,000 kg. They began harvesting on November 24 and are now working at full speed to reach the Asian country with the fruit before the Chinese New Year.
«As for the fruit harvest before the Chinese New Year, we will be able to harvest the entire plant, more or less 80 percent of our production will be delivered before December 15-16, so it should be enough to arrive before the Chinese New Year; the rest, which is a bit of the Bing and Regina variety, I think we will harvest it right around those days, between the 15th and the 20th, and with luck I think we will get to the Chinese New Year anyway, or else we will get there right after or just after; the truth is that with the timing we are doing quite well, we will be able to get most of the fruit before», explained Manuel José Torrealba, General Agricultural Manager of Agropaxi.
In addition to the cross-cutting challenge of reaching their destination before the Chinese New Year, each orchard has had its own set of challenges.
«This year it has been difficult for us to get color, I know that it has happened in several farms, at least in the Lapins variety we got quite a few degrees Brix before having optimal color 3.5, but the decision was made to go into harvesting with a color 3 anyway, which although it is not optimal, the fruit was softening, so we have already finished the Lapins, there are only Bing and Regina left.", explained Torrealba.
During the last few seasons, labor has been a real headache for cherry producers, however, according to the General Manager of Agripaxi, during the current campaign, there have been no major problems.
«With regard to labor, the truth is that this year there has been no problem. We always work with people from the area who have been working with us for many years. We work with 60 harvesters, 70 at most, and they are people from around here or from Sarmiento, from Teno, but they are people on contract, we do not work with contractors. However, next season we want to start working with contractors because operationally and in terms of paperwork it is much easier, because here in the office having a contract for 60 people and doing paperwork, etc., is quite overwhelming, so I think this is the last year that we work with our own contracts.», said Manuel José Torrealba.
He also noted that he is constantly receiving job applications: «There have been people everywhere, 15-20 people come to my office every day, mostly Haitians. Another important point is that I have had to stop the harvest for 3-4 days for fear that people will leave and the truth is that no one leaves and they all come back after 4 days, maybe a couple are missing, but they come back,» indicated from Agripaxi.
Day to day
The day starts very early in the orchard, where the harvesters arrive, who after removing their baskets head towards the plot that will be harvested that day. Each worker removes his ladder from the cart that transports them, and whose number must match that of the basket. In addition, each harvester must have his harvest bracelet.
With all the work tools, the crew chief indicates the rows in which they should be located along with the rest of the crew, made up of 20-30 people.
«For each crew there are two tractors with harvesting carts containing the bins with totes; the workers go there to empty their bins, while the sorters or quality personnel check that everything is in order, such as whether the bin is full, loaders, leaves, fruit without pedicels, etc.», Torrealba explained.
Once the carts are full, the tractor heads to the collection center where the wet sponges are installed and then loaded and taken to the plant with a load of 24 bins per truck.
