In central Chile, a place known for producing some of the world’s best fruit, Cristian Covarrubias oversees the La Higuera plantation of San Felipe – about 60 miles north of Santiago.  Meaning “the fig tree” in Spanish, the acreage on which La Higuera sits is where many fruits thrive, and as the name suggests, figs grow wild there.  Snowmelt from the Aconcagua Mountains feeds the deep wells that irrigate the orchards and vineyards planted on the slopes and valleys below.

Five generations of the Covarrubias family have cultivated the 667 acres (270 hectares) that comprise La Higuera, and Cristian currently serves as the company’s chief executive officer.  Production mostly includes clementines (148 acres), Hass avocados (133 acres), peaches (59 acres), nectarines (49 acres), plums (20 acres) and several varieties of grapes (272 acres).

“Farming and agriculture are in our bloodline,” said Cristian who learned the business working alongside his father Jorge Covarrubias – one of Chile’s table grape exporting pioneers.  “We are a family-owned company that grows packs and exports only the fruit that is grown in our farm.”

With the varietal diversity at La Higuera, operations continue throughout the year, beginning with stone fruit and grapes in early November, continuing with clementines in May, and finishing with avocados in August.  Orchard maintenance activities take place in between.  La Higuera employs 180 – 200 people, depending on the season.

Newly updated packing facilities on site at La Higuera are fully air conditioned and equipped with state-of-the-art machinery.  One apparatus digitally sorts soft fruits by weight, diameter and color, for consistency in each pack.  The organization is also quality certified in all Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).

Southern Hemisphere produce, like that grown on La Higuera’s plantation, allows North Americans to enjoy summer items – sweet, juicy grapes and peaches – during the winter months, and winter fruits – clementines and avocados – in the summertime.  The challenge with soft fruits that have been shipped over any distance is consistency of eating quality.  La Higuera has put extra effort into ensuring that its fruit not only looks great upon arrival, but that it also tastes good to the shopper at retail.

“We market all varieties through The Oppenheimer Group in the U.S., and we also send some fruit to Japan and England,” said Cristian.

The relationship between Oppenheimer and La Higuera began in 1999, and the Chilean supplier was Oppenheimer’s “Most Improved Grower of the Year” in season 2002-03.  Last year, Oppenheimer expanded its repertoire, adding La Higuera’s winter crop, clementines and avocados, to the existing business in grapes and stone fruit.

Now, it’s springtime in the U.S., which means the clementines are being harvested and packed for their journey north.  La Higuera checks the fruit’s acidity and sugar levels, or brix, daily to ensure the fruit that is packed has good eating quality upon arrival.  At the same time, the grower is pruning the stone fruit trees and analyzing results of the summer crop. La Higuera started planting clementines in 1996, and anticipates this year’s harvest to be around half a million 5-lb (2.3 kg) boxes.

“Clementines are something new here in Chile,” said Cristian.  “We are one of the larger growers.  By adding the winter crop we can be packing produce at our facility nine months of the year.”

Avocados present another advantage, in that they are not susceptible to freeze damage.  Avocados grow on the hills – land that previously didn’t have any plantation value – and results have been very good, according to Cristian.

Cristian enjoys the diversity in his job, touching all aspects of the farm.  He also travels extensively to prepare and manage quality at shipping destination points, ensuring food safety and retail integration.

Home base for Cristian is his family.  He and his wife Josefina have seven children: Josefina (22), Cristian (20), Francisca (18), Isabel (15), Arturo (12), Pedro (10) and Diego (8).