Students valued the activity as a contribution to their training.

With great interest and enthusiasm, fifth-year students of the Agronomy Career of the Universidad Austral de Chile attended the XXV International Seminar on Blueberries & Cherries Chile 2023.

To the activity -carried out on April 13– attended more than 600 people and more than 22 international speakers and experts, exposing research in the area of ​​blueberry and cherry cultivation. The topics discussed included the challenges of each industry, analysis of the recent season, profitability analysis, new varietal alternatives for Chile, strategies to improve the quality of the fruit at harvest and post-harvest, among others.

UACh students attended thanks to the invitation of Blueberries Consulting, organizer of the event, who grants tickets for this important event, held at the Monticello Conference Center in San Francisco de Mostazal.

The following students participated in the seminar: Francisca Coye Bascuñán, Francisca Aguilar Cárcamo, Alexis Álvarez Ojeda, Paulina Carvallo Maldonado, Gaspar Cocio Pacheco and Felipe Büchner Carrasco.

A contribution to training

The student Francisca Coye had words of special thanks to her professors Carolina Contreras and Pamela Artacho, academics from the Institute of Plant Production and Health (IPSV) of the UACh, "for contemplating us for the tickets delivered by Blueberries Consulting".

“It was a great experience, where we had the opportunity to learn and talk with experts from different areas such as the market, technology, postharvest, genetic improvement, both in blueberries and cherries. The latter turned out to be of great interest because my thesis is about this fruit. Being able to attend the seminar helped me to hear the latest news about this crop”, stressed Francisca.

Meanwhile, Gaspar Cocio said that it was a great experience and opportunity to participate in this activity: "I focused on the blueberry exhibitions where I was able to observe and listen to prominent researchers and consultants from different parts of the world, who highlighted the challenges of the industry, better economic returns, the choice of suitable varieties for varietal replacement, the relevant points in the harvest to have a good post-harvest at destination, and finally, nutritional strategies to optimize fruit quality in a period of high input prices."

"For me personally it was very gratifying to be able to be at the seminar, since I am doing my thesis on blueberries and because I would like to be able to develop myself professionally tomorrow in this crop, so that I can access the new challenges and problems of the industry and being able to interact with producers with a lot of experience who could tell me about their knowledge in the blueberry field, as well as their opinion on the different exhibitions held, all of this was very comforting and enriching”, the student stressed.