The general manager of Terra Business in Peru, Federico Beltrán, is an experienced actor in the Latin American fruit industry and a protagonist in the most diverse international meetings held on different continents. His presence as a special guest, rapporteur or lecturer on topics related to fruit growing, especially in the blueberry market, make him privileged, to the extent that he has a holistic and global perspective, which allows him greater certainty when it comes to design future paths or strategies. 

We talked with Federico Beltrán about contingency and the world to come: 

What impact do you think the pandemic will have on the Peruvian export fruit industry?

• Favorably, the main markets have protected the food supply chain by establishing protocols to reduce risks and make their flow viable. Let us not forget that it is also a public health crisis and that the main attribute of the fruit is precisely its contribution to health.
  
  On the other hand, and luckily for the Peruvian fruit industry, the initial impact of the global crisis began when the grape and mango export campaign ended; and a period of low agro-export activity was generated between week 13 and 18 (fortnight of March and end of April). This pause allowed us to better understand the complexity and adapt to the new protocols. Currently the citrus and avocado campaigns are developing with some normality. It is estimated to export 360,000 tons of avocado, mainly to Europe, being the active market and with good prices. However, it is difficult to predict what life will be like after we can overcome this global crisis. There will undoubtedly be major changes. We do not know for sure how much demand will be affected over time by this pandemic. In this context, the foods in general that have the greatest contribution to health will be those that maintain and even increase their consumption and demand.

What measures should Peru take to anticipate or adapt to the possible new world scenario?

• The strategy should be to understand complexity and look for efficiencies. Adapt to the highest levels of protocol requirements and find new opportunities. Crises generate transformations and bring progress. Let's look at the speed at which the use of robotics, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, drones, automation and online merchandising systems is now going. They are the tools with which we can develop competitiveness in this new scenario. It is time to invest, risk and transform to be able to compete in the future. 

In the case of the Peruvian blueberry industry, what changes should you implement to stay competitive?

• Peru is currently the world's leading exporter of fresh blueberries. I estimate that in the current export campaign we will exceed 165 thousand MT. An increase of over 30% compared to the previous campaign.
  
  The highest harvest and export volumes begin in mid-July. We hope that many of the complexities of rearranging the supply chain will be overcome by then and we will have more clarity on the state of the markets. We must be careful to avoid the interaction of the variables of supply increase and demand contraction.
  
  It will be important to anticipate the labor regulations of social distancing that will affect the availability and cost of labor. In addition to logistics and infrastructure problems in the supply chain. Favorably, the health attributes of blueberries and the massive knowledge of them, in addition to the ease and delight in their consumption, have allowed a progressive increase in demand by consumers from different latitudes.
  
  "The strategy to increase our competitiveness and face the complexity of the crisis must be based on maintaining the level of quality and condition of the product, and on the other hand, distributing the offer in an organized manner to the markets. Technology and genetics, to achieve higher standards of competitiveness and differentiation in the markets, continue to be the key tools ”.

Federico Beltrán is one of the pioneers in the introduction of blueberry cultivation in Peru. He is a great connoisseur of the industry, betting permanently on its development, with more knowledge and with more technology.