The Obst vom Bodensee Vertriebsgesellschaft (OvB) team can look back on a successful trade fair season 2020, which with Fruit Logistica, BioFach and Fruchtwelt includes the most important fresh fruit fairs in Germany.
Under the sign of the bee
While the aftermath of the ProBiene petition for a referendum is still clearly felt in the home country, at this year's food fairs the fruit from the Bodensee Vertriebsgesellschaft is showing that bee-friendly agriculture is already common practice at Lake Constance. As the bee monitoring in the cultivated areas of the past few years has shown, the wild bee feels very much at home on Lake Constance. For example, the wild bee survey of 2017 provided evidence of a total of 117 wild bee species, including 25 threatened species such as the highly endangered black-blue sand bee. This corresponds to a doubling of the number of wild bee species recorded since 2010. More information on bee monitoring in the Lake Constance district can be found at www.bodenseebiene.de.
OvB celebrates the European Bee Award at the Fruit Logistica
Winning the European Bee Award
This commitment was honoured in December when the European Landowners' Association presented the European Bee Award at the EU Parliament in Brussels. The Bee Award was presented for the PRO PLANET apple project, a joint project of OvB, the Lake Constance Foundation, REWE Group and the Kreisimkerverein Tettnang-Friedrichsha- fen. Within this project, the fruit growers at Lake Constance have been successfully committed to wild bees for more than 10 years, including the creation and maintenance of more than 375 hectares of flowering areas, around 10,430 woody plants, more than 710 insect nesting aids, 1,748 bird boxes and 136 bat boxes. Patrick Trötschler from the Lake Constance Foundation even attests in the TED Talk on Biodiversity at the Fruit World 2020: "Wild bees would buy fruit from Lake Constance."
The new OvB marketing team: Gerhard Pietsch, Dr Inga Mohr and managing director Johannes von Eerde
Taking responsibility together with the trade
For the fruit growers, the conservation and creation of habitats for bees and insects is a personal matter and therefore they are involved with a variety of activities far beyond the requirements of the PRO PLANET project. The OvB is also increasing its commitment to the bee this year and is providing the funds to equip the newly opened beekeeping school of the Württembergischer Imker e.V. regional association in Eschenbach (Göppingen).
One thing the trade fair communication with the popular bee has shown to the food retail trade in particular: By buying fruit products from Lake Constance, the trade - and thus ultimately also the end consumers - can take responsibility and make an important contribution to the future of the local cultural landscape and the producer families at Lake Constance.
New in the apple aisle
Fruit from Lake Constance also presented the new highlights in the range: With "Fräulein - Die deutsche Apfelentdeckung", "Kissabel® - 
I'm red inside", "SweeTango® - The whole summer in one apple" and "Rockit® - the snack apple to go! At this time, these varieties are being developed and marketed jointly by eight German producer organisations within the framework of the German Fruit Varieties Consortium (DOSK). Things are run side-by-side, as joint projects. According to Dr. Inga Mohr, Head of Marketing at OvB, the focus is on particularly tasty varieties with an extended shelf life, which are conquering segments of the table fruit market that have not been occupied up to now.
Continuous packaging optimisation: 'REuse, REcycle, REduce'
OvB is constantly working on optimising its packaging solutions and, as a driver of innovation, presented the first plastic-free cardboard tray at last year's Fruit Logistica. Also this year, the various packaging options and new materials such as the renewable and resource-saving grass fibre were shown at the trade fairs. OvB is constantly checking the types of packaging used, the quantities, the packaging materials and material thicknesses. For example, the plastic content of some packaging has been reduced by more than 30%.
Plastic-free mono-bowl in fruit with a Lake Constance-look.
The Obst vom Bodensee Vertriebsgesellschaft
OvB supplies the German food trade and export markets with pome, berry and stone fruit (conventional and organic) from Germany's southernmost fruit growing region. OvB has the marketing mandate for the produce of its affiliated producer organisations Marktgemeinschaft Bodenseeobst eG (MaBo), Württembergische Obstgenossenschaft Raiffeisen eG (WOG) and VOG Ingelheim and direct contract producers in Germany and abroad. Despite the 2017 harvest shortfall, in the top fruit segment with a volume decline of -58%, OvB was able to close its 2017/2018 financial year with a positive result. OvB was able to close the financial year 2018/2019 with a 22.5% increase in sales, with
a positive earnings situation. With an extensive range of club varieties, OvB is positioning itself as the largest producer of Kanzi® in Germany with an apple range of the future, for example.
For more information: www.obst-vom-bodensee.de