Since our inception, Innovation has always been one of our fundamental pillars, which has allowed us to develop new and improved genetic programs, incorporate cutting-edge technology in our processes, and develop new products and services, which add value to our producers and the national and global agricultural industry.
We have a clear method to manage innovation:
“Creating unique, radically superior solutions that create value with high economic, social, and environmental impact for our stakeholders (consumers, clients, producers, collaborators, shareholders, and communities).”
Our Innovation methodology starts with the identification of problems and/or opportunities in each of our 5 innovation focus areas. These are strategic areas in which we explore and develop our innovation projects.
Quickly make use of the new Berry varieties according to clients/consumers’ demands and needs.
Make use of production techniques and/or systems that increase productivity and/or allow to produce anywhere in the world.
Digitalize, automate, and integrate businesses into our agricultural and export processes.
Incorporate new leveraged businesses into our capacities and create new value-added products.
Include technologies that increase fruit quality and post-harvest life.
This project consists of the installation of solar panels in our crops and packings throughout Chile. The installation is carried out by the company Solarity and is intended to replace up to 50% of our energy consumption in crops and packings.
One of the biggest challenges is the installation of panels in non-productive areas, such as the reservoirs. We are currently developing a flotation system that allows to install the solar panels over water, so as to make use of this large area which is currently unused.
It is a machine, developed with the help of CORFO funding, which automates quality control. It uses cutting-edge Automated Optical Inspection technology, with an integrated data management software, to carry out an analysis that allows to make solid decisions based on a diagnostic, replacing the human eye with a multispectral camera.
The automation of the visual inspection process has brought radical change in the process times, as this traditionally manual task is highly subjective.
Now thanks to Blueyes, defects or fruit conditions are quantified in an objective and non-destructive manner, allowing to reduce quality process costs and cull fruit volume, as well as giving greater confidence to the producers exporting the fruit.
It is a technological solution for real-time harvest control, which works with a technological bracelet given to each harvester with a personal RFID. This bracelet allows the typesetter receiving the harvested product to weigh it on the AgroID scale and record the fruit’s exact weight.
All the information collected is synchronized in real time and stored in the AgroID server. From this server, the producer can consult, manage, and verify the total production, while the harvester receives the information of their daily production on their cellphone.
During 2018, a new technological solution, implemented in Peru, was incorporated. It is called “Hortibus”, and it manages the fleet of buses to transport harvesters, as well as a new salary module, which prevents some problems such as slowness, data loss, delays, and poor support for conventional systems.
Hortifrut Challenge seeks to promote the creation of prototypes, and technical and commercial validation of initiatives that contribute to quality and condition improvement of pre- and post-harvest berries.
The first version, supported by CORFO, Hortifrut Ventures and MeetLatam (platform that supports the development of entrepreneurial ecosystems in Latin America) was launched in August 2017, where it sought to incubate and assist a grand array of projects focused on a more integral innovation of the berries industry.
+50 submitted projects
30 preselected projects
7 projects selected for funding
Constant support with innovation, finance, legal, design, and investment training courses.
In line with our interest in boosting innovation in the agricultural sector, during the Third Hortifrut Innovation and Technology Fair, all entrepreneurs from Chile and the rest of the world were invited to a contest to propose solutions to the problems that the national agricultural industry currently faces.
The contest had a previous mentorship session for the participants, developed by the innovation booster INNSPIRAL, and awards from the sponsors Magical Startups, Innova 360, and Chile Global Ventures.
+40 participating startups
12 selected projects, with the help of INNSPIRAL
Control system for phytosanitary applications that uses GPS, and flow and pressure sensors on the sprinkler. It allows to control work remotely, providing objective, real-time information about the application of phytosanitary products.
Structure that allows to cool the fruit since the minute it is harvested, allowing to preserve the quality of exported fruit, that arrives in the process room at a lower temperature, which translates into a better quality export fruit.
Innovation that aims to pull Rural Family Agriculture from poverty via autonomous technology and associativity for growing mushrooms, providing an extra seasonal income for a minimum effort in their harvests.
