Chilean cherries: genetic and commercial novelties at ExpoCerezos 2024

Last Thursday, September 12, ANA Chile® held the fifth edition of ExpoCerezos 2024, where participants were able to learn about the advances in technical knowledge of new cherry varieties that are already in the commercial phase in Chile, in order to achieve the best fruit potential.

As every year, the purpose of the event was to analyze the current scenario and showcase the varietal alternatives to growers, allowing them to better address the many challenges that the business presents today, focusing on the contribution that the new varieties can offer, demonstrating the main technical and managerial advancements of the various genetic programs managed by ANA Chile®.

The event was held at the Hotel Santa Cruz, with speakers including Andrés Valdivieso, Commercial Director of ANA Chile®, cherry consultant Walter Masman, international cherry consultant from Spain Javier De Pablo, post-harvest manager for cherries at DOLE Pamela Donoso, and product manager for apples and cherries at ANA Chile® Lorena Pinto.

The presentation by Andrés Valdivieso focused on the analysis of the 2023/2024 season, fruit volumes and shipping dates, as well as the commercial development and projections for the varieties managed by ANA Chile®. He emphasized that the area reserved for planting amounts to 4,440 hectares of this variety group so far, and with what has already been established, the medium-term production forecast could exceed 8 million boxes.

Lorena Pinto, Pomaceae & Cherry Product Manager at ANA Chile®, spoke about the progress in the evaluation of the new cherry varieties that have been commercially available over the last 3 seasons, such as cv Nimba, cv Pacific red, cv Sweet Aryana® PA1UNIBO, cv Areko, and other promising varieties still under experimentation, such as Sweet Saretta®, Sweet Stephany®, and the Nipama cherry.

She also highlighted the progress of the cherry breeding program by INIA, which has identified interesting cherry selections with low chilling requirements.

In their presentations, Walter Masman and Pamela Donoso shared their experiences with the new varieties in their respective fields and the main lessons learned from the past season, as well as providing valuable recommendations for the current 2024/25 season, which will see more representative production and commercialization of Nimba cv, Pacific red cv, Sweet Aryana® PA1UNIBO cv, Areko cv, and Sweet Aryana® PA1UNIBO cv.

Walter Masman, cherry consultant, presented new information on the "continuous model" to address chilling accumulation in cherries in Chile, developed by the Catholic University of Valparaiso, which better integrates the effect of Growing Degree Hours (GHC) and explains more accurately the behaviors of the various cherry varieties observed in recent seasons.

He also stressed that this season will generally be characterized by high yields, making load regulation crucial.

One of the highlights of the day was the delivery of recommendations to cherry producers using covered production or tunnels by Javier De Pablo, in terms of irrigation management, and other recommendations requiring forced covered production, considering the factors that can directly affect fruit quality, and how to manage this technology to achieve the expected results ahead of harvest.

The free dissemination of this knowledge collected by the ANA Chile® team, along with the nation's top industry experts, aims to align producers' visions to ensure a consistent product and guarantee a solid productive start with the new varieties, allowing them to position themselves well in the international market, showcasing their excellent characteristics.

To access the presentations of the fifth version of ExpoCerezo 2024  click here

To access the videos  click here

Source: ANA Chile®
Images: ANA Chile®

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