After a trip of nearly three hours to the Ica region, the blueberry specialists were able to visit the San Gallán and Family Farms farms the day before the Blueberries Consulting seminar in Lima, Peru, advised by the specialist in soil chemistry and plant nutrition, Jorge Esquivel; to witness, analyze and support the cultivation of blueberries in the coastal dunes of Peru.

The meeting was attended by Ivone de Bem Oliveira, Head Breeder of Hortifrut; Gerard Krewer, international consultant at the University of Georgia; Jessica Rodriguez, adviser and postharvest expert; Gerardo Núñez, Doctor in Horticultural Sciences from the University of Florida; and Dr. Jorge Retamales, international researcher and consultant.

About the opportunity, Jessica Rodríguez, next exhibitor of the International Blueberry Seminar Chile 2022, he stated: “Peru's growth is striking. How they have managed to enter a crop that they did not know, and today be in the place they are. It is always interesting to come and see the geographical area where it is produced and the energy with which it is developed. It's amazing, impressive."

The host was Juan Pablo Bentín, founder of Family Farms Peru, who for more than four hours guided the specialists through the long and green rows of blueberries, standing out in the arid landscape. The blueberries planted in San Gallán reach 36 hectares and are of the Biloxi variety, with trials of the Peruvian varieties Matías and Salvador, while those of Family Farms Peru are Eureka Ridley, Sunrise and Sunset, which reach 300 hectares. Both projects must deal with very different conditions than where wild blueberries originally grew, such as high levels of radiation from the desert and strong coastal winds.

About the farm, Jorge Retamales said: “15 years ago it was just sand, now thanks to technology and knowledge, a significant number of plantations have been installed. They are impressive tests, because one in Chile is used to planting 20 hectares, here it is 100 hectares per year, with a lot of knowledge, a lot of technology implemented in that field.”

During the tour, the technical team of the farms took advantage of the presence of specialists in genetics, plant physiology, root development and nutrition to obtain advice on the experimental, but successful, cultivation of blueberries in a substrate with more than 99% sand. .

At the same time, academics and researchers took the opportunity to get to know the avant-garde project in detail, observing its results and discussing their observations on the development of plants in the field.

“They have been learning very quickly. It is noticeable in the plants, we do not detect nutritional imbalance. So, despite the large number of plants, the number of hectares, almost every plant is cared for, very well managed,” said Dr. Retamales.

Gerardo Núñez, dedicated to the study of the roots of blueberries, was surprised by the development of these in the plants of both farms.

“Something that I loved about what we saw today on the farm is that you have tall plants that make deep roots and shorter plants that have shallower roots. There is a lot of genetic effect in this, which is very much in line with research that has been done in Florida looking at the genetics of the root system, in order to have better cultivars with better roots," explained the researcher.

While Gerard Krewer, Jorge Retamales and Ivone de Bem Oliveira commented and supported the work of the technicians, sharing their knowledge on how to improve nutritional strategies according to environmental conditions, the needs of the varieties and their genetic behavior.

“It is beneficial both for the producer and his team and for us who come from other environments. Both sides learn: they who have questions and need proposals, and we who have to think about how the plant would react to such a situation. I believe that the visit is positive because one sees that there is a whole development effort, being very eager for knowledge and also very grateful for the proposal that we made to them”, said Dr. Retamales.

At the end of the tour, Jessica Rodríguez had the opportunity to appreciate the advanced post-harvest technologies of the Family Farms Peru farm, talking with Juan Pablo Bentín about the results of the strategies used by the technicians to maintain the quality of their fruit until the destination market. .

Everyone was impressed by the facilities to irrigate the plants in the middle of the Peruvian desert, with sophisticated fertilization systems, managing to take the fertilizers to different sectors depending on the variety and its needs.

Regarding the farm's technical team, Jorge Retamales concluded: "The doubts were always about how to enhance the development of the plants, the yield, the quality... they were doing it well, but they wanted to do it even better."