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The pome fruit harvest in South Tyrol, estimated at 833,852 metric tons, will turn out to be lower than in previous years. But according to experts, the quality of the apples is very good. Accordingly, this year’s marketing season has gotten off to a promising start. The Italian province of Trentino Alto Adige may rightfully be called Italy’s apple garden. After all, more than sixty percent of the Italian apple harvest and around fifteen percent of the entire European apple harvest grows here in a contiguous area.
Every other year, South Tyrol's fruit industry together with the Bolzano Exhibition Center invites experts from the entire world to INTERPOMA in Bolzano, right in the middle of this gigantic apple garden. INTERPOMA, which is being organized this year for the fifth time, is a tradeshow in which everything revolves around the cultivation, storage, and marketing of apples.
Anyone wishing to invest in the sector of apple cultivation can get all the information they need here. According to Reinhold Marsoner, Director of the Bolzano Exhibition Center, there is no comparable specific tradeshow anywhere in the world. For that reason, not only is INTERPOMA unique around the globe, it is also an absolute must for insiders in the sector. Two years ago, at the last INTERPOMA, over eight thousand visitors from within the industry took advantage of this opportunity.
For this year’s INTERPOMA, around two hundred companies have once again registered their presence and will present various innovations on the market. All of the associations and organizations that are active in the apple industry will also be present with their own information stands: the two umbrella organizations of the South Tyrol fruitgrowing cooperatives (the VOG, or Association of South Tyrol Fruitgrowers Cooperatives and the Vi.P, or Vinschgau Valley Producers), the Association of South Tyrol Fruit Auctions (FOS), the Association of Unaffiliated Fruit Dealers (Fruttunion), the Laimburg Agricultural and Forestry Research Center, the South Tyrol Consulting Group for Fruticulture and Viticulture (SBR), the South Tyrol Variety Consortium (SK-Südtirol), the Melinda Consortium from the Non Valley (district of Trento), and the National Union of Fruit and Vegetable Producers (UNAPROA).
The tradeshow will offer a comprehensive view into the cultivation technology, storage technology, and sorting and packing technology regarding apples. As in previous years, numerous nurseries from all over Europe have once again registered with this year’s INTERPOMA and will offer new apple varieties and clones. In addition, the exhibition will include tractors, pesticide equipment, harvesting machines, self-propelled working platforms, and machinery and materials for soil care, tree care, and the harvest. Well-known international pesticide firms will also be represented at INTERPOMA 2006, as will the best-known manufacturers of fertilizers. And all of the well-known names from the sectors of sorting and storage technology will of course be present. The range of products that will be exhibited will extend from sorting facilities, cooling systems, crate emptying and filling, and packing materials to the entire sector of labeling.
The INTERPOMA Tradeshow and the Specialized Conference – An Ideal Team
In addition to the tradeshow event, INTERPOMA also offers an international forum for knowledge and training every morning in the Conference Center of the Bolzano Exhibition Center. “Among experts in the field, INTERPOMA is regarded as the international forum for information and discussion for producers, dealers, and marketers,” says Matthias Josef Gamper, President of the South Tyrol Apple Consortium, the umbrella organization for South Tyrol's fruit industry. “During these three days, participants in the conference will receive an overview of trends in the most important apple-producing countries. For that reason, this year we have once again invited well-known experts from throughout the entire world who will report on global apple cultivation, the new economic areas in the Far East, variety and trademark protection, and the non-destructive quality determination of apples.” The conference lectures will be simultaneously interpreted in English, German, and Italian. Detailed information on the conference “The Apple in the Globalized World” may be found at: www.interpoma.it
INTERPOMA as a Meeting Point for National and International Associations
At this years INTERPOMA, several national and international organizations have once again registered and will use the platform in order to organize internal meetings. This year, the directors of the European Fruit Research Institutes Network (EUFRIN) and representatives of the Nevis Fruit Company will be guests.
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