Around 7:30 in the morning, attendees at the Redagrícola Chile 2024 Conference began to arrive. The event, which is being held at the Monticello Conference Center, began at 9:00 a.m. and marks 20 years of Redagrícola in Chile.
With a rich and varied program, which includes topics such as artificial intelligence, bioinputs, projections of the effects of a changing climate, or sustainability, the day began with the opening words of Patricio Trebilcock, director and founder of Redagrícola.
After welcoming attendees to the 9th Redagrícola Chile Conference, Trebilcock noted that “the conference seeks to maintain something that characterizes us, which is to address the key technical issues for those who accompany us, and also to be a meeting point for the agricultural industry. ”.
The first talk was given by Dr. René Garreaud, deputy director of the Center for Climate and Resilience Science, (CR)², who referred to the challenges and projections that the changing climate presents for agricultural production. “The coast has been cooling, although it seems inconsistent with the rise in temperature in the rest of the country,” he said.
The expert also explained that maximum and minimum temperatures have increased 0.3 degrees per decade in Chile in the last 40 years. “In the last ten years we have observed historical maximums, many of them coincide with years in which enormous forest fires were generated. “In 2017 alone, 600,000 hectares were burned, 10 times the average.”
Regarding the predictions for 2024, the academic from the University of Chile announced that it will be a La Niña year. “Negative anomalies are expected in the Pacific. The prediction is that from July onwards it should be a rather dry condition. How below normal? We do not know”.
Then it was the turn of the international table grape advisor, Rodrigo Sapiain, a specialist in sustainable fruit growing. The expert presented the main tools to develop regenerative agriculture projects, highlighting the importance of focusing on the soil. In addition, he showed pilot projects in table grapes, cherry trees and vineyards from Elqui to La Unión.
At this moment, the president of the National Evaluation and Productivity Commission of Chile, Raphael Bergoeing, is presenting his talk “The economy in interesting times, projecting 2024 and what follows.”
Bergoeing pointed out that “when countries begin to approach development, the demand for public goods grows more than GDP. That is why it is not so strange that the tax rate has risen, but despite the fact that there is greater capacity to collect, our public debt has grown by over 40%, it has multiplied by 5, and that is not sustainable over time.” .
The day will continue with the traditional conversation tables of the Redagrícola Conferences, a space where exhibitors and attendees sit down to talk in a close and pleasant space. On this occasion, there will be eight tables with topics such as citrus nutrition, post-harvest technologies, vegetable coverage, ultra-early cherries in the north of the country, among others.
