Bogotá prepares for Nación Berries 2026

With an agenda focused on market trends, genetics, production and postharvest, Nación Berries 2026 will seek to consolidate Colombia as a regional hub for the sector. In that objective, Chilean experience will play a leading role within the block of conferences and panels.

Bogotá will once again become a meeting point for the Latin American berry industry with the second edition of Nación Berries 2026, scheduled for May 20 and 21 at the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce, Salitre venue.

The organization presents the event as a strategic platform for connections, knowledge and business opportunities for the sector in Colombia and Latin America, with activities including an Academic Congress, trade exhibition, BerryTalks, BerryTour and BerryMatch.

Within that ecosystem, the Academic Congress appears as one of the central axes. The official proposal promises more than 30 conferences and panels with experts from several countries, focused on trends, innovation, commercial strategies, genetics, production and postharvest, in an agenda that seeks to impact the entire berry value chain.

The first day will be driven by a central idea: positioning Colombia as a Latin American hub for berries and exotic fruits. The program will open with an institutional welcome and then move into blocks on export certification, strengthening local consumption, consumer trends, agricultural innovation and the selection of genetic material for Colombian conditions. Among the confirmed names are Juan Guillermo González, Paula Cepeda Rodríguez, Alexander Machado, Paula Angélica Cruz Vásquez, Camilo Lozano, Fredy Mora, Andrés Felipe Castellanos, representatives of Walmart, Marcelo Luengo and Luis Carlos Afanador.

But one of the most interesting focuses of the program will be Chilean participation, and especially the presence of Andrés Armstrong, who will take part in the block “Colombia as a Latin American hub for berries and exotic fruits” with the presentation “The roadmap to make berries a high-impact business in Colombia.” The official agenda presents him as director of the International Blueberry Organization (IBO), while the IBO itself also identifies him as executive director of the Chilean Blueberry Committee, a dual role that places him as one of the most influential voices in the sector at an international level.

Armstrong arrives at Nación Berries at a time when he has been emphasizing, from the Chilean experience, key issues for blueberry competitiveness: varietal renewal, logistics efficiency, inspection capacity, market diversification and adaptation to an increasingly aggressive global competition. This background makes his participation one of the most strategic of the congress, especially for a country like Colombia that seeks to scale in planted area, productivity and export positioning.

Along the same lines, Chilean presence will also be felt at the close of the first day, when Marcelo Luengo Aguayo, general manager of Planasa, participates in the genetics block titled “Varieties for success: how to choose the right genetic material for Colombian conditions.” His name appears in the official list of speakers and his career is linked to regional horticulture; a specialized publication describes him as an agricultural engineer from the University of Concepción, Chile, with an extensive career in the fruit industry.

And what is coming on the second day of Nación Berries?

The second day will combine two worlds: on the one hand, an opening dedicated to goldenberry — with sessions on global market, agronomic management, postharvest and added value — and, on the other, a return to blueberries from a production perspective. The program includes content on fertigation, crop management and monitoring, productivity, harvesting and postharvest, with the participation of Giovany Gómez, Miguel Chocontá, Fernando Becerra, Peggy Lascano, César Vázquez and Mauricio Manotas, among others.

It is in this final stretch where Chile once again gains prominence. Santiago Román, presented by the organization as founder of Fructifica, will be responsible for the presentation “Smart postharvest: keys to preserving firmness, bloom and shelf life of blueberries,” while Reinaldo Campos Vargas, officially identified as professor and researcher at the Postharvest Studies Center of the University of Chile, appears in the closing block of the day. The University of Chile itself describes him as a full professor and researcher specialized in physiology and postharvest management, which reinforces the technical weight of his participation.

Although the event is designed to promote the growth of the berry business in Colombia, the program clearly shows that an important part of this learning will seek to rely on Chilean experience.

Everything indicates that Nación Berries 2026 will bet on a combination of market vision, technical knowledge and transfer of regional experience, and within that framework Chilean speakers will not only occupy relevant spaces, but could also shape some of the most substantive discussions of the event: competitiveness, genetics, productivity and postharvest.

View Academic Congress program here

View brochure here

04-13-2026
Source: Diariofruticola.cl