Chilean producers and exporters traveled to Spain again to view the performance of the latest cherry varieties. This shows agricultural technical tours, a crucial activity that was halted due to Covid-induced lockdowns and travel restrictions, has now resumed fully.
Lorena Pinto with Luis Lasarte Alonso, a breeder of the Catania variety.
The group from Chile could see the performance of the different cherry varieties during last month (May) when orchards in Spain were in drought conditions, followed by a lot of rain later. This allowed the Chilean visitors to see the characteristics and performance of varieties under more trying conditions. According to reports about 70% of Spain’s cherry harvest is badly affected by the rain.
Lorena Pinto, product manager at ANAChile, a variety management and evaluation company in Chile, enjoyed the opportunity to visit several cherry farms across Spain. “It was a huge privilege having the opportunity to visit Luxury Fruits during our cherry tour in Spain during 2023. Thanks for sharing your valuable knowledge of cherry growing with us Javier de Pablo Camarasa. It is always a pleasure to visit him and see his high quality cherry production. Catania (r) is a great Spanish cherry variety breed by Luis Lasarte Alonso near Almunia de doña Godina. It has excellent yield and size, high SS level and good firmness. In Chile we will evaluate its adaptation the next years, it is already out of quarantine. Great performance during this difficult year in Spain.”
Catania is a Spanish cherry variety
According to Cristián Muñoz Escobar, an agronomist at Fruticultura Agrónomo says he enjoyed the technical tour of early cherries in Spain. They had the opportunity to tour different productive realities between Zaragoza and Lleida, observing the behaviour of varieties licensed by ANA Chile such as Nimba, Pacific Red, Sweet Aryana, Sweet Lorenz, Sweet Gabriel, and in addition to reviewing other selections such as Sweet Valina, Sweet Dave, Epick 16 and Catania.
“We had to see a difficult 2023 season in Spain; with an acute drought and high temperatures in spring that accelerated the development of the fruit. But it was very interesting to observe the behaviour of each variety under these conditions, where the genetic potential shows its true value, allowing to see the weaknesses and strengths of each variety. This knowledge must be reinterpreted to our Chilean reality, with the sole purpose of adapting our agronomic management by anticipating the problems of each variety,” stated Escobar.
For more information:
Lorena Pinto
AnaChile
Tel: +569 98182940
Email: Lpinto@anachile.cl
www.anachile.cl