Several foreign professionals who participated in the activities in San Pedro traveled to La Plata to learn about different experiences in the horticultural and floricultural sectors. The tour included meetings with producers and a visit to the Gorina Experimental Station, which operates under the Ministry of Agrarian Development of the Province of Buenos Aires.
Although the storm forced the cancellation of the scheduled visit on Wednesday to Baradero and Zárate, an intense day took place on Thursday. The first stop was at INTA La Plata, followed by a visit to a facility in Hudson.
Later, the group was welcomed at the Gorina Experimental Station by its manager, Inti Ganganelli, who provided details about the station’s projects and activities. Then, Marco D’Amico presented the biofumigation trial that they are conducting in collaboration with the University of Lomas de Zamora, the Santa Catalina Phytotechnical Institute (FCAyF UNLP) and the INTA San Pedro. This study uses Indian mustard, Santa Catalina variety, and Trichoderma harzianum, and evaluates four combined treatments to control the nematode Nacobbus aberrans, which severely affects crops such as tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and beets. Although part of the group was unable to continue the tour, the rest visited other trials, including the evaluation of bioinputs to prevent aphids in kale, trials with artichokes and “tomate platense,” and a food processing plant that receives vegetables from other regions.
Later, they visited the Tecnoflor Cooperative, which brings together 25 flower-producing partners. The cooperative’s nursery, specializing in vegetables, as well as grafted tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers, stands out. Grafting is a technology that provides greater vigor and disease resistance, and according to tests, it has achieved equivalent results with conventional treatments as well as with those using solarization and biosolarization. They also visited one of the four most important gerbera producers, who is currently improving his soils with organic amendments and, following the visit, expressed interest in starting biofumigation trials.
The tour doesn’t end here. Tomorrow, the group will visit INTA Yuto to observe how biological control of whiteflies is applied in biosolarization, and they will then travel to Salta to visit a local producer’s facility.
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