We recently participated in a technical conference hosted by a prestigious company specializing in innovative root development products. This event brought together, in my opinion, the five best avocado experts in the world today.

We were tasked with discussing the crop's prospects for the coming years, maintaining our position, as outlined in a previous article, that we believe "we're starting anew with transplants to new fields." Interestingly, all five technical presenters agreed that we must return to the basics regarding the use of fertilizers and other products that aid crop development. During some boom years, I believe we overused many stimulant products that didn't deliver the expected results and only increased costs per hectare. After the last two or three years, when prices fell and margins tightened, we've had to go back to basics, achieving exceptional results in Peru with yields approaching 30 tons per hectare in some cases.

We believe that with current measurement systems for temperature, humidity, radiation, and other more sophisticated factors, we can determine and prevent the stress a plant might experience, allowing us to anticipate and better combat it. This enables our crops to reach their full productive potential. Increasing production from 20 tons per hectare to 30 tons per hectare in the same field is equivalent to transplanting 50% more area. Therefore, we recommend first improving cultivation systems, from irrigation and fertilization equipment to water quality, using reverse osmosis.

One of our collaborators drew our attention to the fact that the use of reverse osmosis for containerized blueberry cultivation has opened a new stage in Peruvian agriculture, as it ensures optimal water quality and helps plants become more productive, even with water that does not have a very high electrical conductivity.

So let's get to work optimizing our fields!

Alfredo Lira Chirif, Peru alfredo@agroleal.pro