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Like this newsletter, spring (at least for apples) is a bit late this year. Bud break is just happening on apples now, and this, while it would have been considered normal twenty years ago, can now be considered late. That is thanks to global warming, and the fact that over the past ten years bud break for many tree species has advanced by about ten days on average.
So now that spring is arriving at last, I hope that you enjoy our spring newsletter.
Italy produces more apples than any other country in Europe. A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit one of the main growing regions in Sud-Tyrol. There are many things that I did not know about this area just south of Austria, including that their first language is German, and that when they sell apples to other parts of Italy they call it “exporting”.
Sud Tyrol is located in the mountains, and apples are grown in elevated valleys varying from 200m (750ft.) to 1000m (3000ft.) above sea level. Apples grow well at high elevations (remember that 1000m is about the same height as Carrantoohil) due to the high light levels in summer and cool autumns that help to colour the fruits. In the Sud Tyrol region there are eighteen thousand apple growers, each with a small farm of about five acres. When you visit this area, you see nothing but orchard after orchard after orchard, with just the occasional vineyard here and there. Every inch of land is used, which is not surprising given that land prices are in excess of €100,000 per acre.
You might expect that with so many growers in such a small area, that people might have difficulty selling their crops. This is not the case however, as growers are very well organised. There are thirty co-ops which are owned by all growers and run by elected grower boards. For co-ordinated marketing there is also an umbrella co-op that looks after this.
This structure means that all the profits from packing the apples go back to the grower. This is in stark contrast to many countries, where one or two large packers can offer growers any dismal price, knowing that the grower has no option but to sell to them. These large packers then pocket handsome profits while the producers are squeezed to the limit.
In Sud Tyrol, the co-operatives not only pass back the profits from packing fruit to their growers, they are also involved in making further products like frozen apple pieces and apple juice. Thus, the more profitable elements of the business with more “value-added” products help pay to keep the producers in business.
For someone like myself, coming from Ireland where the co-op’s were formerly involved in many more areas of agriculture such as meat processing, and where this is now in the hands of one or two private firms, I could not help but wonder had Irish farmers made a mistake by opting to deal with private companies instead of co-op’s. Perhaps it is not too late for beef farmers to follow the lead of the milk producers, and put their faith in the co-operative movement.
Finally, about Italy, I am pleased to note that although they grow very beautiful apples there, none I tasted while there was quite as nice as the top-quality Irish grown apples I am used to. I always think that while it’s difficult to grow an Irish apple, it’s also difficult to beat an Irish apple.
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