Strawberries, cherries, raspberries, potatoes, cauliflower or red beets with the South Tyrol quality label: The year 2018 put a smile on farmers' faces. All in all, it was a year with good harvests, very good quality and satisfactory prices, said many people in a conversation with the South Tyrolean news.
Cherry fruit fly
In 2018, Markus Tscholl, auction manager of the Egma Fruit Auction in Vilpian, was looking for 93 tons of strawberries, 18 tons of raspberries and 118 tons of cherries customers, among other things. "The prices of the strawberries were very good," says Choll, "while those of the raspberries were significantly lower than those of 2017." The buyers' interest in cherries was very high. The quality of the fruit was good to very good. There were no problems with shelf life, nor with the cherry fruit fly.
Good market position
Reinhard Ladurner, Business Unit Manager of the VI.P for vegetables and cherries, called it the largest cherry harvest in Vinschgau so far: 500 tons of very high quality. The purchase prices of cherries were also good until the end of July. "The automatic sorting machine contributed much to the success of this year. It made it possible to sort the cherries according to size, quality and color, at high processing speeds," says Ladurner. With regard to cauliflower, with 3,500 tons, it was the largest crop for almost ten years. Ladurner is also satisfied with the sales. The aim is to maintain the good market position by looking for new varieties in collaboration with entities like the Laimburg Test Center.
