Carmen Gloria Lüttges is marking a milestone in the Chilean agricultural sector as the first woman president of the Chilean Avocado Committee, a role that brings her “great pride,” she told FreshFruitPortal.com.

An agricultural engineer from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (PUCV), with an extensive career in fruit growing, specifically in the avocado industry, Lüttges has 25 years of experience in companies such as Subsole. In 2016, she joined the Westfalia Fruit team, first as commercial manager and, currently, as avocado commercial manager for South America.

The appointment, Lüttges said, feels like an endorsement of the contribution she has made to the sector during her extensive career. She said, “Based on the more than 25 years of experience that I have been working specifically with avocado, now, from here, I want to contribute to the good development of the industry.”

She was emphatic in saying, “I assume with great enthusiasm the leadership of this guild, which has been key in the positioning of avocado in Chile and especially in recent years in which we have been recognized internationally as a reference in matters of sustainability, which adds to being a reference in the development of the domestic market”.

She commented that, as president of the institution, she will seek to give continuity to the sustainability roadmap and the work carried out in previous periods, “giving my personal stamp by working as a team with the board of directors and the Committee's administration”.

She added that the focus of her administration will be to continue with the strategic guidelines of the guild.

“For me, a united guild is key, working around the industry and with the representativeness it deserves; therefore, my efforts will also be focused on increasing the Committee's representativeness, which is already positive, but we can always unite more. I am convinced that teamwork always gives better results than individual work,” she stressed.

A more sustainable future

Sustainability has become a staple of the Chilean avocado industry. Lüttges said she hopes to continue on this track, and explained that they have worked with the consulting firm Sustenta+ to achieve this.

“Today, after two years of working groups and socialization of good practices in the sector, we reaffirm our commitment in this area through the evaluation of progress and challenges in sustainability of our partners, based on six key dimensions: Corporate Governance, Environment, Internal Public, Community, Suppliers, and Customers,” she said.

She added that “we believe that these efforts will allow us to continue establishing areas for improvement in our fields, producing avocados in a responsible way with our environment”.

Regarding sustainability, the new president explained that they have incorporated the advice of different technical organizations in order to monitor the effect of avocados on the environment. 

“In this sense, the Water Center for Arid and Semi-Arid Zones of Latin America and the Caribbean (Cazalac), reported a series of positive externalities of the plantations, linked to the positive effects in the long term to avoid desertification and soil erosion,” she added

Chile, specifically in the area of Quillota, houses the oldest avocado plantation in the world, “the California Orchard, with more than 75 years of history, which is an example of avocado climate resilience”, Lüttges said.

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In addition, INIA's Carbon Footprint Study of Chile's Agricultural Export Products (2010) established that avocado trees on hillsides favor the environment because they capture more CO2 than is generated by their production and export. This capacity to capture CO2 is unique compared to other crops.

Carmen Gloria Lüttges, president of the Chilean Avocado Committee

The work done by the Chilean avocado industry has become a benchmark in the sector and was demonstrated by its participation in the World Avocado Congress in New Zealand. Chile was the only country presenting its progress in sustainability as an industry, “and then in Territorio Aguacate in Colombia, we were invited to present our work in sustainability as an inspiration for the avocado industry in that country,” she said.

She also noted that the sector has incorporated the use of technology. “The production that is done in Chile is 100% technified irrigation, which puts us at the forefront in relation to other countries. Currently, we are advancing in the possibility of incorporating organic matter in orchards, improving moisture retention and reducing water consumption per hectare; and introducing technology in crops that allow trees to be more resistant to weather conditions and that favor good fruit quality, among other initiatives.”

The Global Avocado Summit, organized by the Chilean Avocado Committee and the Yentzen Group, will be held on November 21 at the Casino Monticello event center in Chile.