After two years, as a result of the pandemic and the sanitary restrictions to meet in person, the April 7 The Chilean blueberry industry and a large part of the global industry will meet again to address the different areas related to the production, export and marketing of blueberries in the international market.

At the meeting organized by Blueberries Consulting, the main public and private authorities related to the agro-fruit industry will attend, important aspects of the sector related to management in the orchard, harvest and post-harvest, export and marketing, and the challenges and opportunities that arise in the future for the blueberry industry.

A global perspective of the future of Chilean fruit in the international market will open the XVIII International Blueberry Seminar to be held April 7 at the Monticello Conference Center.

The current state, the new challenges and the different opportunities for the Chilean blueberry industry in this post-pandemic stage will be addressed by the specialist and international consultant Manuel José Alcaíno and the main trade union authorities in the industry.

The public or state vision of the future of the sector will be exposed personally by the Chilean Minister of AgricultureEsteban Valenzuela.

Postharvest

After this inaugural and strategic block regarding the industry and its projections, the entire post-harvest process will be addressed from various aspects, including an analysis of the main problems of the arrival of the fruit to international markets by Ignacio Santibáñez, from QIMA ; the existing advances in relation to the Modified Atmosphere (AM) and Controlled Atmosphere (CA) systems in blueberries, by the academician Víctor Hugo Escalona; and the main logistical difficulties in a pandemic and postharvest management strategies in blueberries, by Ing. Agr. M. Sc. Jéssica Rodríguez.

The orchard

The afternoon block will be devoted entirely to agronomic management in the orchard, with interesting novelties that will probably become a very interesting tool for the industry in the medium term, such as the use of rootstocks in blueberries by the University researcher from Florida, Jeffrey Williamson, grafting techniques presented by the Spanish specialist Juan Carlos García Rubio; how to face the future in organic blueberry production considering markets, requirements, costs and strategies by specialist Emilio Merino, nutrient management in organic blueberry production and its results in yield and quality, presented by researcher Amanda Davis; the improvement of fruit quality under hydric stress conditions through the use of hormonal inducers, by Cristián Balbontín, INIA researcher; and the quality of the blueberry and its relationship with the use of nutritional supplements will also be addressed, by the international consultant who is also an INIA researcher, Juan Hirzel.

Topics in detail

The complete program tries to cover and dwell on most of the most important issues for producers and the industry in general, but it will be reinforced by rounds of questions after each block, in which speakers, researchers or specialists who have participated with his talks, to clarify the doubts of the attendees on the topics exposed or answer other aspects not addressed or arising from the conversation, related to the cultivation of blueberries in its different aspects.

In summary, the XVIII International Blueberry Seminar to be held on April 7 at the Monticello Conference CenterIt will be a long-awaited opportunity to analyze the Chilean blueberry industry and its position in the global industry, in addition to analyzing the challenges to be faced in the immediate future and, above all, to visualize the opportunities that open up for the commercialization of the fruit. Chilean in the international market.