Berry Talks, a new information format for the European small fruit industry, will debut on March 25: a series of conversations with global leaders in the berries supply chain.
Each episode will be live video and the meeting will focus on an informal conversation with an expert from the sectors that make up the supply chain, from research to nursery, from production to trade, retail and market.
The format is designed by an international pool consisting of Jorge Pedro Rosa Duarte (Portugal), agronomist and consultant with global experience in the berry industry and owner of Hortitool Consulting, Shiham Zahidi (Morocco), agricultural trainer and co-organizer of Morocco Berry Conference and Thomas Drahorad (Italy), president of NCX Drahorad (broker on international small fruit markets) and curator of Italian Berry.
«The purpose of Berry Talks is to share knowledge and experiences, to grow a category that still has great potential to develop in Europe,» says Jorge Duarte. «In other global realities (think for example of the United States or Chile) there is a great history of collaboration between the actors of the supply chain: we want to help create in Europe too the climate of dialogue, sharing and collaboration that has borne so much fruit in America.»
According to Shiham Zahidi «in these years at the Morocco Berry Conference we have hosted personalities with a very high professionalism. With these conversations that we have called Berry Talks we aim to unite experiences and make them a common heritage of a community of berries professionals from Morocco to Georgia, from Turkey to Scotland, from Italy to Sweden, involving the main international research, production and market realities».
Thomas Drahorad explains his participation in this project as follows: «Berry Talks is based on the same philosophy as Italian Berry: to share information and expertise in order to make the berries sector grow together; the category still has great room to grow and it is more useful to open up than to try to defend one’s own horticulture. In Europe we all look at what has been done in twenty years of coordinated action in the UK: this is the climate we want to foster. We already have in mind a list of Italian operators who will be invited to participate in Berry Talks.»
The first event will feature Miguel Hermes Ahumada, a professional specialized in agricultural systems with experience in variety development. integrated pest management, fertigation, substrate production and post-harvest management with a particular focus on berries. He is considered a high-energy innovator known for versatility, vision and teamwork.
Berry Talks will be streamed live from 6:00 p.m. on Friday, March 25; the talk will be in English and Italian Berry will publish a summary in Italian in the following days “Berry Talks” and meet the leading global players of the berry industry.
Miguel Hermes Ahumada will open the series.
Berry Talks is a joint project of Jorge Duarte, Siham ZAHIDI and Thomas Drahorad