With years of experience advising on blueberries, Jessica Rodríguez, an Agricultural Engineer from the University of Chile with a Master's degree and a fruit postharvest specialist, stands out for her sharp and practical observations on the current harvest season in Chile, marked by various difficulties that have reduced your end result.

In this regard, the engineer stated: “The main problems started with the workforce. In Chile, the blueberry unfortunately competes with the cherry. This year it was more difficult for us to gather people for the harvest and the packing stations. And then the ravages of the climate that have been affecting us”.

As Rodríguez was able to observe, the productive areas of the blue fruit in Chile suffered from unexpected phenomena such as high temperatures or rains out of season, causing the quality and condition of the blueberry to be “much more at the limit” of being able to overcome a new challenge: transportation times.

"What happens is that you have to know how to produce a long-lasting blueberry, and that is where you have to look for efforts in the orchard to obtain firm fruit," he argues to explain how the business must face the changes introduced by the pandemic. Experts predicted that the maritime logistics chain would not return to normal in 2022 even before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a situation that has further stressed container shipping.

How to know which ones and when

As explained by Rodríguez, knowing when to harvest and perfecting the selection of blueberries for export is key to reducing Chilean blueberry losses: “You cannot visually differentiate the maturity of a blueberry by color, it is impossible. And before the subjective criterion of your hand touching a fruit to say that it is soft, it is better to have a team that is super objective and that tells you that it is really good. So technology can help you there.”

In Chile, according to the agronomist, there is technology that is being developed to standardize harvest and export selection parameters. Universities are developing prototypes, while some players are using equipment designed for other crops in blueberries. However, in his opinion, there is still a long way to go: “at the moment we are still very much 'at hand'”.

Engineering is clear about where this technology should be: the plantation. “It would be ideal for (the technology) to reach the producer. Therefore, you need more portable equipment, since the grower has to be clear about how often he has to pull blueberries off the plant. Otherwise, it will always take us a fraction that is not adequate for these long trips that we are having today,” says Rodríguez. With equipment of these characteristics, the times would be more exact and the blueberry samples, obtained directly from the plants in the fields, would be more representative, improving the effectiveness of decisions and field production.

logistics times

In Chile, growers harvest the fruit and send it to exporters where it is processed, selected, and packaged for shipment abroad. Jessica Rodríguez pays special attention to the time that passes during the delivery of the fruit between both actors in the blueberry production chain.

“Information is disclosed, but for some reason, the producer and exporter is not becoming aware of how important certain time management is. In blueberries, unlike other fruits, it has a great impact on quality," explains Rodríguez.

The importance lies in the cooling of the fruit, which, together with other treatments, allows to reduce its respiration and slow down dehydration, loss of firmness and overripeness of the blueberry.

“That a producer harvests and does not arrive at a plant in six hours is going to have an impact. And that effect is not seen that day or the next day, but 30 days later, so the producer ultimately does not end up being informed of the reason why he obtained a lower profit. There is a gap there,” says the agronomist.

Public during the presentation of Jessica Rodriguez at the XIX International Seminar on Blueberries Peru.

The importance of meeting

Jessica Rodríguez surprised the attendees of the International Blueberry Seminar Peru 2022 with a clear, didactic and captivating presentation entitled Analysis and corrective measures of the main harvest and post-harvest problems in blueberries.

For the agronomist, who will also participate in the version of the seminar in Chile next April 7, these instances are valuable. “Today (the blueberry) you have it produced in all parts of the world. So a seminar that brings together professionals from these different places opens up your local perspective. They sometimes have the same problems, but different geographical and climatic conditions”, says Rodríguez.

The engineer will once again share her post-harvest experience with Chilean blueberries at the XVIII International Blueberry Seminar Chile 2022, on April 7 at the Monticello Conference Center, this time expounding on the new challenges facing blueberries after the logistical changes caused by the pandemic.