TRENTO. The apple harvest has begun in Italy, the fruit most present on national tables, with an estimated production of around 2.1 billion kilos, down 1% compared to last year. Coldiretti Trentino Alto Adige draws up a balance sheet based on data Prognosfruit on the occasion of the start of operations in Trentino Alto Adige where approximately two thirds of the national total are grown.
“On the 2024 harvest – says the President of Coldiretti Trentino Alto Adige Gianluca Barbacovi – the spring frosts that affected our region, the largest producer at a national level, have an impact. It is estimatedor drops of 7% in Trentino and 9% in Alto Adigehowever the quality of apples throughout the region is very high, also thanks to a favorable climate with cool and humid temperatures at the beginning of summer”.
Piedmont is doing well – Coldiretti notes – which is the second region for production, with an increase of 8%. Clear increases in Veneto (+33% on last year, hit by frost and hail) and Emilia Romagna (+15% compared to a 2023 marked by floods). Italy is the second European producer of apples, behind Poland (-20%) and ahead of France and Germany, in an EU where 10.2 billion kilos of apples will be produced this year, down 11% compared to the previous season.
At a national level, among the apples most present on the table, the Golden Delicious (-10%) and Gala (-11%) harvests are expected to decline – Coldiretti points out -. Organic apples are also decreasing (-6%), representing 7% of the total national harvest. To guarantee greater consistency in harvests for Italian and global consumers who appreciate national apples – Coldiretti Trentino Alto Adige points out – it is necessary to continue investing in active and passive defense systems against climate change and alien insects.
2024-08-16 06:10:16