The Val Venosta Valley’s association of co-operatives (VIP) reports a successful 2006 harvest for its 2,000 members. Although apple volumes across Europe were down in the 2006 harvest across Europe, Val Venosta registered a five per cent increase in volume of high quality apples, and a bumper year for quality across its berry and vegetable lines.

Apple volumes rose to 262,000 tonnes, with 5,500t of vegetables and 750t of soft fruit. Agronomists attribute the good harvest to ideal autumn conditions in the valley. The orchards are 500-1,100 metres above sea level and are among the driest in Europe with less than 500mm of rainfall annually. This season, autumn has been particularly sunny with cool nights which have both been good for external colour and internal storage quality.

The bulk of the crop is destined for the domestic market and Germany although some 28 other countries including the UK are also receiving fruit. VIP, the co-op association, is forecasting profits of some e170 million. Five per cent of the group’s total production is organic and the remaining 95 per cent is grown according to integrated-crop management protocols.

Two-thirds of production - some 177,544t - is given over to production of Golden Delicious, while production of Stark Delicious and Gala have seen their share of the overall crop increase by 12 per cent and five percent respectively and production of Pinova is also on the rise with a 1.5 per cent increase on 2005’s crop. New Zealand variety Sonya - a Gala-Stark cross - Rubens, Mairac, Diwa and Kanzi have also produced trial-volume crops this season, while varieties such as Jonagold and Elstar which do not perform well at Val Venosta altitudes have seen their volumes decrease.

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