Early cherry seminar in Ovalle (Chile) to assess future growth and quality

Ovalle has once again been the capital of early cherries. Organized by Susttex, the Cerezas Primores seminar brought together producers, companies, academics, and individuals interested in cherry cultivation in the Coquimbo region for the third consecutive year.

The crop has quickly established itself as an alternative for an area heavily affected by water scarcity and has seen its acreage grow in recent years, accompanied by good results from producers who currently export the earliest cherries in the country. 

However, one of the issues that caught the participants' attention is that after the captures of fruit flies in the region during the harvest of the last season and the closure of the air market to China (the main destination for ultra-early cherries due to good yields), this new campaign will most likely face the same negative situation again (due to quarantine periods).

For this reason, exceptionally, they will have to seek new destinations to sell the earliest cherry in the country and, of course, with lower returns.

Analysis of the past season

According to information gathered in the area by both Susttex and INIA, the founder of the seminar and cherry producer, Jorge Astudillo, stated that the Coquimbo region currently has about 300 hectares of cherry trees, with Brooks as the most planted variety with 86.5 hectares, followed by Lapins with 82.7 hectares, Santina with 61.5 hectares, and 37.7 hectares of test blocks of varieties under experimentation in the region.

One of the topics raised by the agronomist was to continue thinking and working on different varieties, in a context where this 2024/25 will already have the first strong productions of new varieties planted in the area, while continuing to learn the yields and gather data from different cultivars in the area subject to royalties, as well as from open varieties.

But the particular focus is on the post-harvest period, which for the area is longer than in other productive areas of the country, “and it is here that we play the next season.” Unlike other production centers, the harvest in Ovalle is concentrated between October and November, one or two months earlier than fields to the south.

“This year we had a different harvest because we didn't have many leaves, so we forced the plant to produce vegetatively,” commented Astudillo in his speech, in a process that in this area lasts only 60 days, unlike the rest of the country, so the orchards have been more demanding and will need care according to a complex season.

Regarding the use of technology, Astudillo commented that it is necessary to think about shade nets or covers “like car insurance,” understanding that “we hope to never use them, but in years like the last one, where we had strong irradiation, clear days practically all winter, no rain, high temperatures, it was a perfect storm.”

This type of net allowed, in the previous season, to improve the chilling portions in a year when the area practically did not have the suitable temperature conditions for the production of this drupe.  “We have the conditions to produce cherries, yes, but each area of the region has a different strategy for producing cherries, Tabalí is not the same as El Ciénago,” added Astudillo, alluding to the different microclimates of Ovalle.

Jorge Astudillo opened the presentations of the day dedicated to early cherries.

After the complex past season, with almost no chilling accumulation and a not very warm spring, Astudillo emphasized that “the important thing for this season is that we will not have the production potential that we had before, we have to carefully evaluate what to do with the spurs and buds that have died."

"We have to see if we will leave these structures to get the kilos we want, or if we will start to renew to recover what has been lost, and for this the next months will be crucial.”

Astudillo also stressed that despite the difficulties and, in many cases, the lower volumes exported by producers, historical returns were recorded for Ovalle farmers, with yields close to 23 dollars per kilo, which allowed for a very positive season for those producing early cherries.

And now? Despite the inability to take the fruits to China, Astudillo sees a positive note in what this year holds in terms of climate, as surprisingly only in the first weeks of May, the chilling portions or hours that accumulated in all of 2023 have already accumulated, with 13.5 chilling portions or 89 chilling hours, depending on the measurement model, which would affect better conditions for this year's production.

The future climate of the area

Dr. Eduardo Fernández, director of the Laboratory of Climate and Resilience of the University of Talca, who participated in the second version of the seminar, returned to address the issue of climate change and its future projection for Ovalle.

With a “bulletproof” analogy, the academic shared a presentation on the past season, especially focusing on the effects of the La Niña phenomenon that the area has experienced.

The agronomist first showed that temperatures in Ovalle have risen by 0.3°C per decade and that in the 2023/24 season, a temperature of 37.5°C was reached, something not seen in 70 years. The number of days with temperatures above 30°C also increased from 38 to 60 days per season.

Fernández also highlighted that the temperature rise in the area will occur later than in other regions, where other factors such as precipitation could be crucial for cultivation.

“There are conditions for cherry production, but we will have to adapt the technology to the particularities of Ovalle,” said the academic, pointing out that the area is extremely complex for the cultivation of early cherries, "so production should continue to advance in this area and others like the north, following the cooling needs of the plants."

With this backdrop, the academic stressed that the use of shade nets or any other technological solution must be evaluated according to the environmental context of the area, for which his team is making efforts to deliver the first bioclimatic zoning for cherry production in Chile this year.

Dr. Eduardo Fernández, University of Talca, emphasized the climate complexities of Ovalle.

Also, part of the third seminar was the presentation of Dr. Javier Tapia, Head of Agronomy at Susttex and Master of Science in Nutrition and Health of Cultivated Plants from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, who shared a historical presentation of the accumulated chill portions for Ovalle and the surrounding areas.

Dr. Tapia showed that in the last ten years, the accumulation of cold in Ovalle has decreased significantly, noting that from an average of 25 cold portions, it has dropped to only 8, making it difficult for varieties to respond to the cold stress for which they are prepared.

The expert also noted that while Ovalle has the best radiation conditions for cherry production in the country, and by far the highest chill units accumulated for the development of the fruit, its technological solutions must continue to be developed to increase the average production of the region.

The seminar concluded with a round table on "Future challenges for cherry production in Chile," in which important players from the productive, commercial, and institutional sectors participated, with the objective of providing greater sustainability to the cherry business, focusing on the early production of cherries and their quality for export.

The Miracle of the Chilean Cherry

Francisca Barros, consultant at Trio Kimún and post-harvest fruit expert, took the stage to discuss post-harvest processes, highlighting the continuous work that has allowed fresh cherries to be transported from Chile to China, literally to the other side of the world, in a process that can be described as the miracle of the Chilean cherry.

“But for this cherry to continue to be a miracle and such a sought-after product, we must be constantly committed to a process of continuous improvement,” the expert emphasized.

In the same vein, the expert highlighted the main problems she and her consulting firm partners encountered in orchards, processing lines, and the fruits that reach their destination, highlighting (as seen in the photo) some irregularities that still need to be addressed, such as fruits arriving with branches or leaves.

After Ovalle inaugurated its first packing line in the region last season, Barros emphasized the importance of homogeneity for the Chinese market, the main destination for the region's fruit, in a process that is not only executed and separated in processing centers but is something that should concern every producer from the management of their orchards to produce as homogeneous fruit as possible.

Barros highlights this aspect because the Chinese market places a higher value on fruits of similar tones, while punishing with lower prices boxes packed with fruits of different colors.

The same applies to packaging materials: “I can bring an excellent product that arrives with firm, good-sized, and sweet fruit, but if I don't have good packaging that withstands the journey, I will arrive with pallets with problems or bags with condensation issues, which means that the product will be worth less, despite the fact that the product itself is incredible.”

Ovalle, an Early Sign

Hugo Vidal, commercial director of Teno Fruit, described Teno Fruit's experience as the first cherry packer in the region as positive. The operation, which turned out to be a success, took an unexpected turn with the detection of the fruit fly in Ovalle in the last week of October, which meant that very little fruit could be exported by air from the region to China.

For this reason, they had to quickly redirect their commercial efforts to other markets for sea travel, also demonstrating that Ovalle cherries had the legs and good post-harvest conditions to travel by sea to markets such as Spain.

“Spain is generally a country accustomed to dark-colored cherries, and this was the first year we managed to sell the light-colored Ovalle cherries at good prices, because the fruit here is so sweet and in good condition that, despite being used to dark fruits, they had no problem eating these redder and not-so-mahogany fruits,” Vidal emphasized. 

The same situation will likely repeat this year, but it will allow commercial managers more time to move the region's fruit volumes in time, despite the fact that in markets like Spain, a kilo of early cherry was sold for 12 dollars per kilo, far from the 23 dollars obtained in China.

In his presentation, Vidal also announced that this year they will label the region's fruit as Teno Ovalle, giving a mark of differentiation to this top-quality fruit, betting on making the value of the fruit produced in the region visible.

Cultivation Continues to Grow Slowly

One example of how cherry cultivation is growing in the area is the orchard of Tomás Araya's family in Ovalle. The Pisco grape, citrus, and avocado growers have gradually converted avocado and vineyard areas into cherry orchards. Not only for greater profitability but also for water usage.

They had 6 hectares of Pisco grapes that were over 20 years old, “and it was no longer worth spending water and fertilizers on a vineyard that yielded little. We also started because the profitability of the cherry cannot be compared to any other crop in the area, not even avocado, which consumes 12,000 m3 of water, compared to the cherry that consumes about 4,000 or 4,500 m3,” explains Araya.

This space will be converted into 6 new hectares of Rainier, plus one of Glenn Red, in addition to the 9 hectares they already had, 6 hectares of Lapins (which had its first strong production of 40 tons this year, although it was a negative year due to adverse conditions) and 3 hectares of Royal Dawn, which produced 2,000 kilos in its first production this year.

The small production of Royal Dawn, which barely managed to be shipped by air, achieved a revenue of 22 dollars, while Lapins achieved a revenue of 7.5 dollars because it could not go to China due to the fruit fly, but they still consider it a positive season in the face of a very complex season in the region.

Why grow Rainier? “It's a bet,” Araya emphasizes, and also to diversify the varieties they have, understanding that it is a difficult variety to produce because it is bicolored and more delicate than other varieties, but that it achieves good returns in the Asian market.

Source: Redagrícola
Image: Redagrícola

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