Verona
Italy: Production down for the winter fruits, but making money is not easy
"The performance of the apple marketing campaign - Tobia said - would have been great if there was not a slump in consumption. Meanwhile, the prices of fertilizers and pesticides are skyrocketing, not to mention the fuel! The production, however, is good quality, although it has suffered from the drought. "
"The production of pears - Tobias continues - was poor, due to the Spring rains, the quality is decent, as well as the price, much better than last year."
"Regarding kiwi, production and price are satisfactory, but only because the rest of the world lacks of production," said Tobias, stating: "What counts, however, is that despite this trend, we can hardly make any income. As recently observed also by the chairman of a committee for consumer protection, the products of the land are not adequately remunerated and producer prices have been pretty much stuck in the post for 20 years."