The incorporation of technology has been essential for avocados and blueberries grown in Chile to occupy an important place in international markets. In this task, the INIA Postharvest Unit, led by Dr. Bruno Defilippi, has been essential to strengthen national exports.

Therefore, taking advantage of the fact that the active export season for both fruits in Chile has not yet started, part of the work team of this Unit of the Food of the Future Area of ​​INIA is participating in a series of activities that seek to publicize the latest advances that have allowed the country to respond to the demands of consumers around the world. "With these dissemination activities we want to help producers, exporters and suppliers of inputs update their knowledge", highlighted Bruno.

Regarding the advances, the specialist explained that "the quality of the product consumed, both in organoleptic terms and in terms of safety, in addition to the commercial opening that Chile has had in recent years, have been fundamental factors when developing technologies that allow us to reach distant markets such as Asia, where a significant percentage of avocados and blueberries are shipped, and recently the Australian one, where avocados are preferred ”, he said.

In addition, the specialist added, “we must consider that all seasons are different and, therefore, all actors in the production chain must be prepared to respond to these changes. For example, in avocado we have had an autumn and winter with more rainfall, which differs from recent years, and it will be interesting to see how this factor affects the development of some variables of quality deterioration ”.

Activities

Taking advantage of the wide use of the videoconferencing platform, training talks, courses and seminars are being held, such as:

• Paltos Professional Day, organized by Agricultural Seminars. This event brings together researchers from the main universities in the country that work in avocado, with whom they have been working for a few years on Fondecyt projects, trying to solve -for example- critical aspects in avocado production and export, such as heterogeneity and softening of fruit, the effect of post-harvest technologies, and the development of external disorders and rot | Read more