Italian apple growers in the country's most productive region are enjoying a successful blossoming season due to ideal weather conditions, though many are struggling to find new ways to increase the crop size. 

South Tyrol Fruit and Grape Cultivation Consultancy Center coordinator Robert Wiedmer told www.freshfruitportal.com the relatively scarce amount of rain fared well for the apples' growing season.

"The good fruit is really due to good weather conditions. It was quite a dry period with temperatures that weren't too high, so we had a very strong flowering and good conditions without excessive rainfall," Wiedmer said.

"It's an advantage if it's not too hot as sometimes it can be quite difficult to obtain a good flower. If the temperatures were too high, it wouldn't be very good news for us."

The Alpine region of South Tyrol has around 5,500 growers whose apple orchards cover some 18,500 hectares, producing one million metric tons (MT) annually.

This quantity supplies 50% of the Italian market, 15% of the EU, and 2% of the global market, according to a report by the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Wiedmer said the Italian market had been reducing over recent years, putting his region's growers on the hunt for new markets. The main European destinations for South Tyrol apples are currently Germany, Scandinavia, England and Spain.

"We have small farms but we are structured quite well. The last two or three years were very good. But obviously apple production is increasing globally, and so I think looking for new markets and new consumers will be one of the biggest things we need to look into."

He went on to explain the region's location meant growers had been unable to find more suitable land to increase their crop sizes, and so production volumes were expected to remain fairly stable in the coming years.

"Here, we are in the middle of the Alps and so one problem is that we don't really have any space left to grow fruit. More or less every square meter that could be used for apple trees is covered by them, and now we are going up into the mountains," Wiedmer said.

"More than 60% of our area here is at least 1,000 meters (3,281 feet) above sea level, and so in the mountains it can be quite difficult to grow apples and we expect our 18,500 hectares to stay more or less the same. It has been increasing slightly over the last year as we have been able to grow higher trees per hectare."

Wiedmer also said in the traditional farming region, the recent use of cell phones has been important in ensuring good communication between growers and the associations that represent them so any problems could be reported quickly.

Although South Tyrol produces high quality apples, Wiedmer explained what is considered a good apple could vary greatly depending on the consumers.

"Different cultures like different apples. We know that Italian consumers love sweet apples, whereas in Germany a good one needs a certain level of acidity, and so it's quite difficult to say what a good apple is for consumers in general," he said.

"But what makes a good quality apple depends on the climatic conditions. This is the most important thing for the fruit, other than the grower."

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