On the occasion of the Technical Tour of Blueberries Peru 2025 and the XXXIV International Blueberry Seminar Lima-Peru 2025, a delegation from the Cuna de Platero cooperative, one of the largest berry producers in the Iberian country, arrived from Spain.

We talked with Juan Francisco Báñez Álvarez, general director of the Spanish agricultural cooperative Platero's Cradle, who on this visit seeks to learn more about the blueberry production process in the region and establish commercial links with related companies.

“We are a cooperative from Huelva, Spain, where we grow strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries. We have more than 650 hectares of crops, and we primarily grow strawberries—about 280 hectares—but we also have 160 hectares of blueberries, 10 of raspberries, and about 15 to 50 of blackberries. We produce about 3,5 million kilos of strawberries a year, including fresh and processed produce, and about XNUMX million kilos of blueberries. We sell practically everything in the European Union, mainly in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Spain, and Portugal,” said Báñez.

The delegation actively participated in the technical tour carried out to the production fields of MBO varieties that the agricultural company Family Farms Peru maintained in the dunes of Pisco and extends over 600 hectares, with the possibility of extending the successful project, always with MBO varieties, mainly Eureka Gold.

They then attended the International Blueberry Seminar at the Lima Convention Center, with the goal of learning even more about the industry in South America and the crop in general. “We attended a seminar in Huelva a while ago, and we know this seminar is held in many countries, but we were interested in coming to Peru because it's one of the largest blueberry producers in the world. We wanted to see how the cutting-edge of the blueberry industry is moving, learn about the fruit varieties, and explore the possibility of purchasing fruit for our domestic markets or exchanging varieties. We have our own variety called Cupla, which is produced in Cuna de Platero in Huelva. We also want to see varieties that can be planted in Huelva and are available, that aren't from a closed group, that are freely marketable, or don't depend on a third party. That's a niche market we're pursuing. We also want to buy products in the off-season for ourselves, especially for Spain and Portugal, where we have many clients that we supply year-round. For example, we produce strawberries, and five or six years ago we started producing strawberries in Ávila, which is in central Spain and allows us to supply our domestic clients year-round. So that's also part of our slogan and our brand image.” And we're working toward that goal. Perhaps we can contact a Peruvian company with which we can work off-season," they assured.

When asked for his opinion on what he learned during the technical tour, the director of Cuna de Platero stated: “I saw a great deal of professionalism, everything was very well controlled, organized, and the concepts were clear. It's a large company (Family Farms Peru), with large areas, and their climate control is very different from ours, more stable and favorable for a crop like blueberries. I would emphasize that; there's a great deal of professionalism and knowledge of blueberries here in Peru.”

Regarding her expectations for the seminar, Báñez mentioned: “It's a very important meeting point, both on a technical, professional, and commercial level. At the International Seminar, we take advantage of everything we can to get to know the producers, the cultivation systems, pruning, production, handling of blueberries and varieties, and everything related to the world of blueberries to immerse ourselves as much as possible. That's why four people from the company came to get a comprehensive overview of everything. We also held an event in Huelva on berries. We welcomed almost everyone, and they toured our facilities and saw what strawberry production is like in particular, our production system, packaging, distribution, digitalization, robotics, etc. Everyone comes to see us, but we also have to go out, because it's good to see new things, and you learn a lot here. We've learned very interesting things that we can apply in our cooperative and teach our members,” she concluded.

We look forward to seeing you at the next events of Blueberries Consulting:

-XXXV International Blueberry Seminar, Chile April 10, 2025
-XXXVI International Blueberry Seminar, Guadalajara, Mexico May 28 and 29
-XXXVII International Blueberry Seminar, Trujillo, Peru, July 9 and 10
-XXXVIII International Seminar on Red Fruits, Tangier, Morocco, September 10