Hortifrut Challenge: Competition to improve the export of berries
Hortifrut Chile convened the past 2 of August to innovators, designers, inventors and researchers of technology and its different applications, has participated in a contest aimed at improving the arrival conditions of Chilean berries to the destination markets, which are each more distant times.
The company has allocated a fund of 80 million Chilean pesos for the Hortifrut Challenge contest and reward the best projects to develop them commercially and make them available to the berry export industry.
"What was sought with this contest is basically to solve problems of quality and condition of arrival of the fruit in destination. Our new competitors have better genetics and better technologies, so we need to innovate in the industry to face these new challenges"Explains Ramiro Soffia, general manager of Hortifrut Chile.
At present, Chile continues to be the world's leading exporter of blueberries and one of the most important producers and exporters of berries. Its quality of producing in contraestation to the northern hemisphere makes it have a privileged position to satisfy the demand of international markets when the majority does not yet have fruit.
But this has been changing in recent years. Argentina and Peru are competing strongly, with technologies and newer varieties than Chilean ones, which also allows them to produce early fruit. Both countries are competition and threat to Chile, especially in the condition in which the fruit reaches its destination. Solve this and other issues is the goal of the Hortifrut Challenge, the contest launched in conjunction with the Corporation for the Promotion of Production, CORFO, which will reward projects of entrepreneurs who focus on solving the different problems that affect the field.
Currently the Chilean exports of blueberries are distributed in an 70%, to the United States, an 20% to Europe and another 10% to Asia, mainly to China, and the shipments have an approximate arrival time of 25 or 30 days for the markets Americans and 40 to 45 days to Asian markets. These long distances imply a deterioration of the product at destination, because it softens, dehydrates and is sometimes attacked by fungi. This is the main problem that is trying to solve with the Hortifrut Challenge, which seeks to support the creation of prototypes, technical and commercial validations of initiatives that contribute to the improvement of the quality and condition of berries in pre- and post-harvest.
The 30 pre-selected projects will receive entrepreneurship and innovation workshops and will participate in field visits, both to level their knowledge and to experience the problems they want to work on. This first stage, aims to give endless opportunities to entrepreneurs to connect them with reality and generate networking.
Then, at least 6 winners will be selected, who may choose up to $ 15.000.000 (fifteen million Chilean pesos) to develop their project. Hortifrut will facilitate its dependencies to carry out technical and commercial validations, if these are feasible. Subsequently, Corfo will place 80% of the financing necessary for the materialization of the project and the entrepreneurs the other 20%. "The idea is not only to deliver the subsidy, but to accompany the entrepreneur to develop a viable minimum product, which can then be tested at the Hortifrut facilities.", Explains Paulina Carvallo, of the entrepreneurship management of Corfo.
Source: Martín Carrillo O. - Blueberries Consulting
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