AgroFresh has announced the opening of a new global innovation center in Rancagua, Chile, joining its six other centers in key fruit growing regions, across four different continents.

According to a statement, the new center’s research and operations teams will use customized operational and technical support services and post-harvest solutions to help growers, packers, shippers and retailers throughout Latin America.

Maintaining fruit and vegetable quality, extending shelf life, reducing post-harvest loss and waste, and conserving precious natural resources will be some of their main focuses.

Edgardo Castaneda, the AgroFresh's Vice President of Operations said: “Operational and scientific excellence is the key to providing high-quality services for our customers and we’ll be better able to support the growing produce demand in the region.” 

“Additionally, with its new state of the art research and lab capabilities and increased capacity, the Rancagua innovation center will serve as a technical hub for the region and the globe.”

It will be home to some of the world’s foremost post-harvest research and development scientists who will continue to develop AgroFresh's leading freshness product and digital solutions, such as Harvista™, ActiMist™, and FreshCloud™. 

Moreover, the global hub will support the Control-Tec ECO application equipment which has helped cherry customers in Chile reduce water usage by up to 60% during the packing process.  

Narciso Vivot, AgroFresh's Latin America Commercial Director described “serving our customers and working [...] to build customized solutions to help protect produce throughout the supply chain is [as] our top priority.”

“We are excited to leverage these new capabilities and increased capacity to enable us to provide support to more customers and a wider variety of crops well into the future”, he concluded.

Chile exports more than 2.6 million tons of fruit annually to more than 100 countries, making it one of the top exporters of produce and fruit in the world. 

The country is also at the forefront of adopting new technology and crop production practices, and was the first to successfully commercialize SmartFresh™, AgroFresh’s leading ethylene management solution, more than 20 years ago.