Guest article by Diego Castagnasso, a fresh produce and blueberry industry expert. Loud, opinionated, INFORMED! Diego writes DC’s B-Side’s newsletter as he speaks and speaks as he writes. You can subscribe, under your own peril, to his newsletter here or visit his less fun (for now) website Drip Consulting.

I started this week in Peru, visiting a blueberry production site in Pisco…

It is a special site for me because it was the first one I visited 10 years ago and the owners are now MY FRIENDS.

And it is a great example of the EVOLUTION of the blueberry industry.

Imagine the Sahara Desert… the sun, the dunes, and nothing more for kilometers, just sun and sand.

Well, that was Agroinversiones Valle y Pampa 15 years ago.

They started as most of YOU did but in a hostile environment,

Just take a look.

As in most cases, their Model was Open Systems; the varieties were Biloxi and Misti

Not much… just the irrigation tubing and the sand…

But Juan Pablo, the Technical Director, was always looking for more information on how to make the project better to succeed in the blueberry game…

Soon, other options appeared, and he worked hard to implement them, from an asparagus mulch to a proper plastic mulch.

Those were hard days; mistakes were made, corrections were executed, and they grew.

The quality of the fruit was good but, clearly, not what they had today!

Fast forward almost 10 years, and they saw that the world was changing, that the old Model was not as good, and the game was on the Premium varieties.

And so, they partnered with FAMILY TREE FARMS to create a newer version of themselves, and FAMILY FARMS PERU was born.

The new version features the MBO varieties, such as the “Eurekas” Sunrise, Sunset, Max, and the New and Improved Eureka Gold.

Today, with almost 600 ha planted, they are far from the 70 ha they started with.

The evolution brought changes because the Closed/Club Systems don’t allow them to sell their fruit, and the production is commercialized from the commercial HQ in the USA.

Look at the export figures.

I don't know what ideas were hovering in Miguel’s mind, being the CEO of both companies and, Juan Pablo's brother, but I would guess that not having the independence to sell was a small price to pay for EVOLVING as they did.

And look at them now.

It is always great to see friends GROW as much as they did.

…and not only in hectares, but technically, they are always trying new things to get the very best out of the plants, from new ways of pruning to pollination methods or AI analysis, they are using everything that is out there to get the best product to their client.

And talking about clients…

The next step in the evolution of the blueberry industry is…

THE CLIENT…

Who is our client, really?

Are the new varieties tailored to their needs?

Is the client evolving?

What do you think? 

Send me your answers before next Saturday 15th and I will use the best ones next week.

That is all for now…

DON’T schedule a CALL this week because I’ll be travelling BUT if you are in Lima for the Seminar don’t hesitate to send me an email and we can meet.

Have a Great Week!!!

And remember, if you liked what you read, send it to a friend, if not unsubscribe…

PS: Family Farms Peru has the biggest area of Eureka Gold planted in the world! Look at the size of those berries in the picture above.

PS1: Are you shy and don’t want to be named in the next newsletter? Don't you worry, let me know when you send me your email.