Organic Apples focus of the third day at INTERPOMA 08

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During the final day of 'The Apple in the World' convention, held from the 6-8 November at 'Interpoma, ' the current situation for the organic apple growing sector will be tackled head on The sixth edition of Interpoma will be held in Bolzano, Alto Adige (Italy), from the 6-8 November 2008. It is the only fair in the world dedicated to the production, storage and marketing of apples. The fair will conclude with a focus on organic apples. The last day of this convention, which will take place during the three days of the show, will be dedicated to the universe of growing apples without the use of chemical pesticides or soluble fertilizers. This topic will be addressed during the seminar 'The Production and Market of Organic Apples' which will be moderated by Josef Dalla Via, director of the Laimburg Center of Experimentation.

In the world of business and finance organic agriculture turns over 28 billion Euros, of which 15 billion euros are generated in Europe alone. Italy ranks number five in the world and first in Europe for organic production (followed by Spain, Germany, and Great Britain) with 1.15 million hectares of land under cultivation and 50,276 workers directly employed in the sector*.

Included within these figures are those of the apple producing sector with 950 organic Italian apple producers, generating a total of 75,000 tons of organic apples from 3,009 hectares of land, of which 938 are in the process of conversion to organic production.

Numerous topics will be discussed on Saturday, November 8. Among the line-up experts to take the stage here will be Jeanette Huber of Zukunfstinstitut Horx Gmbh (Frankfurt) who will examine the subject of 'Organic Consumption – Fashion or Trend for the Future?' Following this presentation are Dietmar Franzelin (Director of the Südtirol BIO Cooperative) and Gerhard Eberhöfer (Director of Val Venosta BIO) who will elaborate on the current state of organic apple production and marketing in Alto Adige, which harvests 29,000 tons every year, making it the foremost European producer.

The market for organic apples in Germany and the U.S. will be brought to the roundtable by Antje Kasbohm of ZMP and David Granatstein of the Washington Apple University of Wenatchee. Marco Schlüter of IFOAM EU Groupe (Brussels) will cover the topic of 'Community Regulations for the Production of Organic Apples and their impact on the Production of Organic Apples'.

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