Fernando Prado, president of the Blueberries Producers Association of Tucumán (Apratuc), told us about the evolution of 2015 blueberries harvest.

The engineer Fernando Prado, who has taken over the management of the Tucumán Blueberry Producers Association (Apratuc), told us about the evolution of 2015 blueberries harvest.

– How was the first flight with blueberries, regarding production, quality and safety? 

– That shipment was done at the time expected by producers and shipping agents. Although this spring weather has been colder than usual in our region, this first flight marked the starting point for the NOA (Argentine Northeast Region) season. We would like to express thanks for the help and assistance provided by Ministry of Production to coordinate and get ready all the logistics and infrastructure of the province.

– Will there be overproduction or will it be limited?

– Apratuc is part of the Argentine Blueberries Committee, organization responsible for sending the reports and estimates of the expected volumes of Argentine production to different markets.

As a consequence of weather conditions in different production areas of the country, exported weekly volumes show a significant decrease compared to previous seasons.

Other regions, due to the weather events which happened on the first days of September this year, have lowered their initial estimates.

With the delay caused by rains and other climate events, the export volumes at country level will probably be similar or lower than those of the 2014 season.

– Is the fruit of best quality or needs to be improved? 

– Fruit quality is within the parameters required by international markets. The fact of having a rainier Spring than usual, made our producers and companies more aware and careful about the quality of exports.

Our associated companies perfectly understand the meaning of quality care to maintain quality standards.

We hope the weather gets better this season, so the NOA production can become a symbol of this valued activity.

– Do you think that this mild winter anticipates what weather will be like in the future?

– Every year is different for us. These last two years, winters have been warmer. Evidently, producers feel more comfortable with this kind of winter, as we can forecast and estimate the development of the season with more clarity and precision. But we know that meteorology is not an exact science. As time went by, this was understood by producers. A great part of Tucuman’s production has frost protection equipment . Most companies have developed their production processes on protected areas and use a varietal scheme to reduce the adverse effect of frosts to a maximum.

– Is this good for the fruit ripening and harvest?

– Having a colder weather than usual in late August and early September has logically influenced fruit growth and ripening. We think that the beginning of this season has been slower than expected.

To ripen, the fruit needs warm days, with little temperature variations, and this was not the case these last weeks. Looking at different forecasts, we realize that this October might be warmer and sunnier, with less thermal fluctuations during the day, and that this may increase the volumes of harvest.

– What is the strategy of the association regarding this aspect? Shipping fruit and taking advantage of the good prices or limiting shipments to avoid the saturation of markets? What is your advice to producers?

– Apratuc was founded several years ago. Its aim is to group together producers and companies to have a better representation of this activity. We work together with all institutions and associations, to achieve a responsible and highly efficient production. Our main goal is that buyer markets consider us as trustful suppliers and our fruit as the best quality. Here in Apratuc, we work day after day to achieve that goal. It is important that we obtain the best results of our exports to enhance the development of this activity and make it more professional every year.

We recommend or suggest our producers to consider the social responsibility of the company, the issues connected with the safety of the production processes and all the relevant information that can be useful to achieve the goals mentioned above.