In the context of the AL-INVEST Verde Fruit programme, an initiative led by the Eurochile Business Foundation, together with its partners Promos Italy and Agropolis International of France, has carried out the first three online workshops as part of the Training Plan. The first of these took place on 12 October, with the workshop “Circular Economy Applied to Fruit Production”. Subsequently, on 19 October, the workshop “Life Cycle Analysis as a tool to identify improvements and circular farming solutions” was held, both led by the European expert in circular economy, Linnet Solway. The third workshop entitled “Value Chains and Traceability Systems in the Fruit Sector” was held on 9 November and was led by the Spanish expert, Iciar Pavez, a researcher at the Agro Montpellier Institute in France.

Complementing the Training Plan, the second Online Seminar “Italian Green Agri-Food Technologies for the Chilean Market” was held on 26 October, with the participation of both Italian and Chilean companies. This event allowed an exchange of experiences, consolidating the collaboration in the agri-food field.

During the events, we had the presence of Rodrigo Silva, project manager of Eurochile’s Sustainability and Circular Economy area, who presented the progress of the project. In addition, Raffaelo Benetti, representative of Promos Italia, shared detailed information about the functions of the agency and its fundamental support to Italian companies in internationalisation processes, as well as its operation in Italy. Melanie Broin, representative of Agropolis International from France, played a crucial role in presenting the organisation, which acts as a centre of scientific excellence specialised in agri-environmental issues.

In the first two workshops, the European expert on Circular Economy, Linnet Solway, addressed key issues, highlighting the definition of circular economy, the current context of development both in Chile and in Europe, the implementation of this in the agricultural sector and the success stories of European agricultural producers in adopting this “new” model.

In the webinar held on 09 November, Iciar Pavez focused her presentation on value chains and traceability systems with an emphasis on fruit, showing examples and European cases. During her presentation she contextualised the European fruit market, highlighting that the European Union is a large consumer of fruit and vegetables, as well as a producer; and the trend that began a few years ago is the consumption of fresh fruit and that COVID was not an impediment to this preference. Another of the topics included in the presentation was traceability, its evolution and the importance of this concept in the agricultural sector.

On the other hand, the International Seminar was attended by Italian agricultural companies that stood out as examples of success in the implementation of circular practices in their production process. These included F.lli Annovi, specialising in machines for distributing organic matter close to the roots; Ferrari Growtech, renowned for its transplanters that quantitatively and qualitatively improve the harvest of fruit and vegetable crops; Plastical srl, which offers systems to protect fruit from atmospheric phenomena; Rinieri, specialising in inter-row machines for orchards; Urbinati, a supplier of greenhouse technologies such as planters; and Vivaio Battistini, an Italian leader in micropropagation and producer of fruit plants.

In addition, leading Chilean companies and organisations participated, including Avellanos Patagonia (Avepa) from the commune of Osorno, Los Lagos Region; Sanberriescoop LTDA from the commune of Chimbarongo, O’Higgins Region; and the Asociación Gremial AgroTech Chile.

On this occasion, Chilean producers from the agricultural sector had the opportunity to explore the advantages of incorporating the circular economy into their production. This will allow them to optimise their crops, reduce CO2 emissions and develop circular strategies to meet the current conditions required by the European market and export their products.

Promos Italia, in its continuous work to foster trade exchange and bilateral relations, has identified a promising link between the Italian companies participating in the previous webinars and the possibility of organising a business mission to Chile. The projection of this mission is specifically focused on the agricultural sector, the purpose of which will be to establish strategic links, business opportunities and possible alliances with local companies and Chilean fruit producers.

The mission is tentatively scheduled for March next year, whereby Italian companies are expected to participate in networking meetings, visits to local facilities and working meetings with key players in the Chilean agricultural sector. This comprehensive approach will allow Italian companies to get a close look at the Chilean business environment, identify potential partners and prospect for mutually beneficial business opportunities.

In short, these online events are designed for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the fruit sector and their business organisations, with the aim of fostering progress towards more sustainable and circular agri-food systems.

To learn more about the Training Plan, we invite you to review the following LINK: https://eurochile.cl/en/noticias/desarrollo-regional/al-invest-verde-fruit-training-plan/