Fall Creek is expanding its team in southern Chile to capitalize on the region's advantages for producing varieties with high cold requirements. These varieties are primarily produced in Chile to meet demand for quality fruit in international markets during the country's natural production season.
The Fall Creek Chile Conecta event, held in Valdivia on August 20 ahead of Blueberry Day, organized by the Chilean Blueberry Committee, focused on collaboration with local and international partners in production, post-harvest, and logistics.
At the event, Ernesto Pino, General Manager of Fall Creek Chile, outlined the current market conditions and opportunities for blueberry growers in southern Chile. He highlighted the competitive positioning of Chile compared with production regions in Peru, Morocco, and Mexico.
Alvaro Vera, from the sales team's "Grower Support" unit, presented commercial details of the company's new genetic platforms SEKOYA and COLLECTION. The sales team also introduced data from new projects in Chile, presenting the attributes and performance of six new varieties being validated for adoption in the region: Sekoya Fiesta™ 'FC13-113', Sekoya Crunch™ 'FC13-083', Sekoya Grande™ 'FC13-122', Sekoya Pop™ 'FCM14-052', ArabellaBlue™ 'FC14-062', LunaBlue™ 'FC12-205', and LoretoBlue™ 'FC11-118'. These varieties are described as offering early production, firmness, flavor, and productivity under cold climate genetics.
Francisco Lobo, Applied Research Lead at Fall Creek, presented the company's global research program, noting that the current genetic platforms are the result of 25 years of work by Fall Creek's R&D team in Oregon and worldwide. He also highlighted three selections under development for potential future release: 'FC15-173', 'FC16-003', and 'FC11-164'.
Fall Creek invited attendees to upcoming field days scheduled for November, where orchards planted since 2020, including the more recent plantings of 2023 and 2024, will be evaluated. These events will showcase orchard performance and production levels achieved with plants produced at the company's facilities in Coihueco.
Source: Blueberries Consulting
