First meeting of the European Plum Technical Committee

The University of California Davis Cooperative Extension is a network of university researchers and educators who for over 100 years have worked to solve problems in agriculture, the environment, and human and community welfare, helping to foster the connection between the university and people.

Based on this model, but adapted to the national reality, UC Davis Chile has focused part of its work on providing the market and society with technological solutions based on applied science, through collaborative research, development and transfer of technologies that generate economic impact and social development. "There is a lot to do in extension, we work on how R&D, knowledge and information reaches farmers in the field so that the necessary innovations are produced, achieving an economic or environmental impact," said Leticia Rojas, Coordinator of the Innovation and Extension area at UC Davis Chile.

Among the different activities organized by this Coordination is the work with public knowledge banks. In this context, last May 5th, the first meeting of the European Plum Technical Committee was held. This committee was born from the joint work with Prunova and its purpose is to bring the work of research centers closer to what producers need, by creating a formal system where information is shared and the way to face the problems affecting this species in Chile is planned in a collaborative way. 

"The knowledge bank we are working on is a space where access to technical information and support tools is facilitated, in this case, on a specific species, however, the objective is that it considers more themes, including some transversal ones, such as irrigation".  "The work being done is based on the needs of producers at the field level, with a participatory and two-way approach, as it considers the knowledge generated by them and their experience," concluded Rojas.

During the first meeting of the Technical Committee, issues were raised for consideration in the information bank and work is underway on a series of training sessions to be held at the end of July this year, with the participation of interested European plum producers.

The committee 

Tomás Labbé, asesor experto en Nogales, almendras, Ciruelas secas y Olivos.

Juan Sotomayo, Frutexa.

Cristobal Crespo, Agricola Santa Amelia de Auquinco.

Rosario Larraín, Prunesco SpA.

Gabino Reginato, Departamento de Producción Agrícola de la Universidad de Chile.

UC Davis Chile Team

Leticia Rojas, Innovation and Extension Coordinator

Jessica Alvarado, Innovation and Extension Specialist

Víctor Gonzales, Innovation and Extension Specialist

Catalina Montalvo, Asesora de Extensión e Innovación