Interpoma assessment
Italy: South Tyrol apple blossom early
Interpoma 2012, will this year have to deal with a decidedly atypical year as far as South Tyrolean apples go. On the one hand, admittedly, it is too soon to predict final harvest and production figures, given the numerous unforeseeable variables that lie between now and that moment, but nevertheless, it is undeniably an important fact that at this moment, roughly two weeks ahead of time, the area’s apple trees are in blossom.
Kurth Werth, expert on fruit growing and organiser of Interpoma’s "The Apple in the World" congress, has no doubts: "What’s happening in South Tyrol is an exceptional event – he emphasizes – Blossoming has begun two weeks earlier on account of the particularly high temperatures at the beginning of March. This situation could well cause problems, since we are also experiencing a water shortage compared to the norm, but it’s too soon to make predictions. We can certainly make one incontestable observation: many scientists insist that climates are changing, and in South Tyrol we can see that for ourselves. Compared to the 1980s, our average temperatures have risen by 2 degrees centigrade. The positive thing is that the bees are flying and so we have good conditions for pollination."
Wolfgang Drahorad, a collaborator with Bolzano University’s Faculty of Agrarian Science and Technology, confirms: "Compared to the multiannual average, apple trees in South Tyrol are blossoming decidedly early this year. Normally this happens around the 8th or 10th of April, but this year it began two weeks sooner. It could be dangerous, because of the risk of frost, which can’t be excluded until around the 10th to 15th of May. Still, the threat can be neutralized through good anti-frost irrigation, which the vast majority of apple growers are capable of carrying out."
The surface area devoted to apple growing in South Tyrol now extends to over 18,500 hectares, with a total annual crop of some 950,000 tons of apples. No wonder this is the region that hosts the biennial trade fair dedicated to apples! The last edition, in 2010, notched up over 14,000 visitors from 58 different countries, thus confirming Interpoma as the most important event for the global apple sector. The 2012 edition will also feature a packed calendar of collateral events, including the International Congress titled "The Apple in the World". This congress will deal with a number of subjects: a first session will be devoted to production, marketing and consumption, and subsequently the focus will shift to replanting diseases and assessments of new developments in research and genetic improvements.
Interpoma 2012 will open its doors from the 15th to the 17th of November in the pavilions of Fiera Bolzano (South Tyrol, Italy).
For further information:
Alice Camellini
Interpoma
Tel: +39-059-7863894