Professional Chestnut Mission to Chile from April 01-09, 2023

Following on from previous missions to Turkey, China and Japan, and as agreed at Eurocastanea’s last general meeting in Montella, Italy, in September 2022, Interco Nouvelle-Aquitaine, at Eurocastanea’s request, co-organized a chestnut trade mission to Chile from Saturday April 1 to Sunday April 9, 2023. The aim was to get to know the Chilean chestnut industry as a whole: its players, production systems, challenges and projections.

The delegation was made up of 27 professional members of the EUROCASTANEA network, from 4 countries: 12 from France, 8 from Portugal, 5 from Italy and 2 from Greece. Pedro Halçartegaray and his wife Adriana, Chilean chestnut growers, accompanied the group throughout the mission, providing real support both upstream in setting up the mission and on site. Ana Merchan, project manager at Interco Nouvelle-Aquitaine, prepared the mission in advance and accompanied and managed the entire program on site.

A rich program of technical visits to orchards and chestnut packing centers. The trip began in Santiago and ended in the Lake District, in the south of the country. The towns visited were Talca, Chillán, Temuco, Pucón and Osorno.

Since 2010, the Chestnut Congress has been organized every year by AREFLH, with the help of local chestnut organizations that vary according to the country where the event takes place. This year, Eurocastanea will take place from September 13 to 15, 2023 in Graz, Austria.