Jorge Astudillo Gálvez, Production Manager of Agrícola Valle Arriba Spa, commented on the details and challenges faced during the recent cherry season in Ovalle, which concluded last Friday, December 1.
In a context marked by adverse weather conditions, Astudillo provides details on the overall balance of the harvest of a season that, despite the difficulties, presented new opportunities for the cherry industry in the region.
What is your assessment of the recent season?
Well, the season came to an end this past Friday in Ovalle, with the last Lapins harvests. I imagine that, like everywhere, it was a rather complex season. Although we did not have the rain problems that we had in the spring in the central-southern zone, we, on the contrary, are in a full-blown drought. Our problems were due to the response that the different varieties had based on the winter that was presented, with a low accumulation of cold hours, no rain and very warm temperatures in the winter. This had a great impact on the orchards that needed better and better conditions in the winter, mainly in Santina, for this area.
Well, regarding the other varieties that have lower requirements, Brooks and Royal Dawn, for example, had a start after the application of cyanamide, which allowed us to advance the phenological process according to the historical data we had, mainly due to the warmer spring, which presented a significant temperature oscillation, which allowed us to advance the harvest in Brooks in particular and in all varieties, between 7 to 10 days. We saw it in Brooks, Santina, Rainier and Lapins. All these varieties were earlier, but the problem was that the loads were lower. For example, in Santina, because flowering and budding were uneven, the same as in Frisco. In the case of Brooks, for example, the production was lower because there was no good synchronization with tulares, which is the variety I have with pollinators and I also saw it with Brooks and Glen Red, that there was a lighter load in terms of fruit volume per hectare.
What were the production volumes achieved by Ovalle this season?
According to the surveys I have done, talking to colleagues and producers in the area, we are all more or less between 30 and 50% less fruit than last season. This led to an earlier harvest, but above all, to improved sizes. In other words, we had a compensation.
As for the volume of smaller fruit, it is considerable, but we had, at least at Brooks, an incredible distribution of sizes. I think we never had a percentage of 2J or more, I think it was close to 80% of the fruit that came out in that condition. Harvested earlier and with prices that remained stable over time, as the days went by and they received fruit in China. Prices even went up a little, something atypical for Brooks, compared to previous seasons.
How was the availability of labor to face the harvest?
As for labor, we have had no problems. It is already a more or less normal condition, with a good availability of people who are able to harvest, people from the Ovalle area, which is complemented by personnel who also come from outside. The cherry harvest begins when the citrus harvest ends, so we have not had any problems with wages since the beginning of the harvest in week 41.
What were the main challenges you faced?
This season we had the particularity of facing a fruit fly outbreak in some areas of Ovalle, which forced us to suspend air shipments to China. That was already in November.
However, those of us who had the opportunity to harvest earlier, Brooks, Glen Red, Royal Dawn and part of Santina, were able to be sent to China without problems, with the usual sales prices. It was the first time that we shipped directly from Ovalle, since some producers were able to go through the Teno plant, with direct shipments from Ovalle to the airport and from the airport to China and the rest, the Santina, which left a little later in November, before the ships, so other destinations had to be found. Fruit was sent to Spain, Taiwan, Hong Kong, different possible destinations that due to quarantine or quarantine restrictions that they could have, allowed the fruit to go to those destinations.
Then, in the second half of November, already considering the first boat trips, the fruit was consolidated, especially Lapins, to be able to ship and undergo cold treatment to reach China without any problems. That was the strategy. Everything that was large sizes or just before the second half of November was sent by air to other destinations and the alternative of the boat was sought to comply with the 15-day cold treatment to be sold to China without any problems.
What is the balance of the values that the fruit reached this season, compared to the previous season?
In Brooks, which is the closest data, prices started practically the same as last year, but by the third shipment, given that the central-southern area is more delayed, where we were not going to have Santina earlier, the price of Brooks was going up. The above was a sign as to what was happening in the south and the harvest projections when I was harvesting in weeks 41-43, they were experiencing the issue of rain in the south. Therefore, there was not much supply of cherries at that time and Santina, even from Ovalle, came out with higher prices than Brooks, in the second or third week after Brooks. In fact, it came out with a higher price than the first Brooks we had, so clearly, Santina is a cherry that, per se, has more value than Brooks, regardless of the date, being the first Santina to come out in the season and regardless of whether it comes out two weeks after Brooks, it will have a better price than this one. The same as Rainier, which marked a historic price, around 70 dollars per kilo for sale versus 45 to 50 dollars for the best Brooks.
Regarding the fruit values that we could have contributed as an area, we had an estimate of 1,000 to 1,100 tons in total in the Ovalle area, I think we will be around 600 tons this season, with a sum of all the varieties that contribute to it. All with a decrease according to the initial estimate and with problems associated with uneven budding and flowering, problems between the synchronization of pollinators and the main variety, which refers to the winter conditions, which were not the most suitable.
This was the first season with a processing line in Ovalle; how did it impact the export of prime cherries?
Regarding the experience we had in the first year with the Teno Fruits processing line, which was installed in Ovalle, it was positive, given that the producers who were able to join this operation were able to see the processes in situ, commercial issues were resolved along the way, there were many opportunities to analyze the different scenarios well, given how complex the season was becoming as the days went by. At first, the air shipments were possible without any problem, because for the first time there was an air shipment from Ovalle, which sets a precedent. Royal Dawn and Santina, processed and exported directly from here and then Lapins with part of Santina were consolidated in the first containers that also left from Ovalle.
From the initial perspectives in terms of volume, this in general fell, and obviously, the process volume was lower in the plant, I think it must be at 50%, perhaps less than what was thought at one time, but it is perhaps close to the initial numbers with which Teni made its calculations to be able to bring the line and be able to carry out this first development.
Obviously, it was an experience that opened the door for me to continue doing this in the future. Now we have to wait to see how the fruit arrives at its destination in containers, because what was shipped by air from Ovalle arrived without problems and sold quite well.
What's next now that the season in Ovalle is coming to an end?
We are already starting the post-harvest process. In some cases, the foliar analyses have already been done, and others will be done now in the next few days, in order to properly establish the nutrition programs. The idea is to have the opportunity to stimulate the orchard so that it can sprout, since in some cases sprouting was very scarce, due to the bad winter we had and the loads that we had, so it is now when we have to start to encourage sprouting and continue photosynthesising. We have to be very efficient with the use of water, because we are practically in a complete drought and sunscreens are going to be key as well.
We have seen some cases of health problems, and this is also affecting some sectors, manifested by gall problems, especially in rootstocks with Colt, and also some wood fungus, mainly in Brooks. So what comes next is to try to leave the orchards in the best possible shape and generate the best conditions for the plant to work and generate reserves for the next season.
