A total success for Cherry Tech 2023, which brought more than a thousand people together in the cherry industry

On Thursday 29 June, an unprecedented technical event took place at the Sun Monticello Conference Centre: Cherry Tech 2023 brought together more than a thousand people who actively participated in the three masterclasses held by renowned specialists Carlos Tapia, Jordi Casas and Walter Masman.

From the early hours of the morning, producers, technical managers, farmers, companies and various agro-industry players arrived to participate in the largest meeting on cherry production organised by Smartcherry and Yentzen Group.

The host of the day was Gustavo Yentzen, CEO of Yentzen Group, who brought the opening greeting and was in charge of running the successful event.

"We are very pleased with the turnout and participation results, and even more so with the fact that the producers had the opportunity to learn from the leaders in cherry production and that, at the same time, the supplier companies were also able to meet their business goals and expectations," said Gustavo Yentzen.

Carlos Tapia, a consultant specialising in cherry production and co-founder of Smartcherry, was responsible for the opening masterclass, in which he provided a comprehensive overview of cherry production, with up-to-date figures and a thorough critical analysis.

"The event met all our expectations; since we launched Smartcherry in 2018 we were supposed to do the official welcome event, then came the social epidemic, the pandemic, and even once we positioned Smartcherry, we always believed that the event we were supposed to do was already with an upgrade from what we had thought." 

"So it was a very good dupla with the team from Yentzen Group, which has experience in all of this, especially in agriculture, and we were able to pull off this amazing event that we call Cherry Tech also in terms of technology; without a doubt, yesterday's success marked a before and after in agribusiness," said Carlos Tapia, founder and technical director of Avium.

Carlos Tapia

The plenary, which also included the other two masterclasses and the three forums on nutrition, variety replacement and post-harvest, was sold out. Both masterclasses and speeches had a relaxed and dynamic tone that kept participants' attention at all times, offering a different format.

"Carlos Tapia's first talk was spectacular, as he gave us answers to our concerns about why we produce cherries in northern conditions. It is very enriching to see the reality of this area, as they have practically all the factors of production under control and we do not; without a doubt Cherry Tech has been a huge contribution for us and for the sector in general," said Jorge Astudillo, Production Director of Agroindustrial Valle Arriba de Ovalle. 

Claudia Soler, Executive Director of the Cherry Committee of Asoex, the association that sponsored the event, highlighted the event: "It was an excellent quality event, all the topics that were discussed were very important, the objective is to work on all the production aspects that will allow us to reach our destinations with an excellent product.

Claudia Soler

A panel of excellence

A total of 15 renowned players from the cherry industry participated in Cherry Tech; among them, Jéssica Rodríguez, post-harvest consultant of Trio Kimün; Héctor García, co-founder and general manager of Diagnofruit Laboratories; Sebastián Johnson, industrial projects manager of Johnson; and Juan Puntí, production and post-harvest manager of premium exporters, who took part in Forum 1: 'Post-harvest: key points and management experiences to avoid fruit spoilage', moderated by advisor and consultant in deciduous fruit trees, Jordi Casas.

"I have a very positive assessment of Cherry Tech, which fully met my expectations, as it addressed key issues for the marketing and production of cherries in Chile, which undoubtedly help the sector to continue to improve, so I hope to attend again next year," said Mauricio Gutierrez, Agronomo Exportadora San Andrés SpA.

"I was very surprised, it was unexpected, but very nice and I enjoyed it, it left me very surprised; I also enjoyed the event very much, with very good speeches and an impressive turnout, I really enjoyed it," concluded Oscar Aliaga.

Technology, suppliers and extension

Technology was a transversal tool in the first edition of Cherry Tech, which had an extensive technical and human deployment in the plenary, the stand area, the TV studio and the poster area; in the latter area, 19 interesting surveys were presented in digital format, which democratised information on cherry production.

"It is a privilege to be able to contribute to the growth of the cherry industry; the fact that scientists and researchers were able to present their posters fills us with pride, being able to democratise information is a way to ensure the joint and permanent growth of our industry," commented Marie Bach, Managing Director of Yentzen Group.

Participants were also offered a wide range of services and solutions for the production of this fruit, with over 60 companies present at Cherry Tech 2023.

"We had an incredible number of companies and we are very grateful for the trust placed in Cherry Tech; in addition to being an event with a purely technical focus, we provided an important event for agribusiness, where different players could talk, establish business relationships, update, discuss, etc., and we left with a huge challenge for the coming years," reflects Jorge Tello, co-founder of Smartcherry. 

Without a doubt, Cherry Tech 2023 was an unprecedented event; more than a thousand participants took part in this unprecedented technical event on cherry production, whose second edition has already been confirmed by the organisers for the year 2024.

Fonte: Smartcherry

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