Antonio Bunster Zegers is an agronomist and winemaker in central Chile. Antonio manages a mixed farming operation with 30 hectares of sweet cherries and a grass-fed beef cattle herd (130 head/year on 90 hectares of pasture). The farm has a seven-person team to manage the farming and the operation's 220 total hectares. In addition, he started a small-scale winemaking project, sourcing grapes from centuries-old, dry farmed vines from traditional Chilean wine regions such as
Maule and Curico Valleys. Antonio's fi rst vintage was bottled in 2018 and total production is roughly 1,500 bottles per annum.
In central and south Chile, many rural households depend on grape growing for a living. Industry consolidation has led to larger and increasing competitiveness in the wine sector which has brought about challenges for small producers to make a living from their eff orts. Antonio plans on exploring how impoverished communities can be bolstered through multi-sectorial approaches to support agriculture, winemaking, and tourism.
This scholarship is made possible by an investment from TIAA-CREF Global Agriculture and Exportaciones Meyer Limitada.
Antonio holds diplomas in organic agriculture and agribusiness management and a degree in agronomy from Pontifi cia Universidad Catlica de Chile. He and his wife have a young daughter
