At the end of the early cherry harvest season, the “Primore Cherries Field Day” was held as a satellite activity of the recent First “Primore Cherries International Seminar”, organized by Susttex Consultores, with the participation of producers from the area in technical talks and field visits to orchards located in the Tabalí sector, Ovalle.
Around thirty attendees, including producers, exporters and farmers interested in deepening their knowledge, were able to participate in interesting presentations by Daniela Cea from “QR AGRO”, who addressed “CODA Nutritional Strategies to Face the Post-Harvest of Cherry in the Northern Zone” and Claudio Rosselot who presented “Water Management, Use of Sensors and Web Management Platform by AGROINTEGRAL”.
Also present on this occasion were representatives of Cerima Cherries, from Spain, a fresh fruit producing and marketing company that has been operating for more than fifteen years in Terres de l'Ebre, Catalonia. There was a space to learn about their experience as producers of premium cherries in the northern hemisphere, led by Héctor Ripoll. Among the partners present, David Manero told us that they came “directly to learn from you in Ovalle. We recently heard that premium cherries were produced here and we were very interested in sharing the experience because the climate we have is very similar to yours, our common objectives and you can always learn.”
The day included two visits to the fields, first thing in the morning, to the Tabalí Farm of “Agroindustrial Valle Arriba SpA” led by Jorge Astudillo, production manager, who is responsible for the oldest orchard in the area and which during the last seasons has presented the earliest harvest in the Coquimbo Region; and during the afternoon they toured the orchard of “Agrícola Patricia Margarita SpA” led by Américo Morales, who was in their first year of harvest, where the producers were received and were able to share and exchange the experiences of the season in order to achieve the objectives of producing premium cherries.
In this regard, Manuel Tainas from Exportadora “ExpoCumbres” pointed out that the activity “was very constructive for a sector that, although it started a couple of years ago, is still learning, since new varieties are coming out every day and today we have to take advantage of the knowledge of people who have been here longer; I care about knowing the changes that are emerging and the types of varieties, to sell to the Chinese market, which is the one that takes the large percentage of this fruit.”
It is worth noting that this activity is part of the ongoing activities that Susttex Consultores will have during the year, for its International Seminar on Prime Cherries, which in its first version was held in October of this year, "among the commitments acquired in our first seminar, it was contemplated to continue with different productive activities with the valuable network that was built around the cherry tree, so today we are very satisfied with the day and we hope to continue organizing more field days in the different stages of this incipient and promising sector," emphasized Aldo Morales, General Manager of Susttex Consultants and Investments Ltda.
