The company is working on reaching 2025 with 15.5% in biological production and a reduction of up to 84.5% in integrated production.
“This is considered within the trends that today’s consumers are asking for, demanding crops that are more environmentally-friendly and with a deep respect for nature,” explains Martin Pinzger, general manager of VIP.
VIP is the European leader of all the biological apple producers, with a production that will reach 50,000 tonnes grown on around 1,000 hectares in 2021.
These figures led them to take a strategic decision aimed at centralising sales and processes in 2007. On the 1st of September 2019, a new phase in Val Venosta’s processing of ecological apples was opened up.
The new bio plant in the Juval Cooperative means VIP’s maximum professionalism in the processing of biological produce. In this plant, the latest, cutting-edge technologies that are available around the world can be found, allowing significant response time to the market’s needs and top-quality service.
“Over the past few years our cooperatives have made considerable investments in state-of-the-art technology, which has meant a complete reorganisation of the processes. Today, 90% of apple management is carried out using automatic storage with FIFO (First In, First Out) technologies, at a constant temperature, with product safety and continuous availability 12 months of the year, an increase in the processing capacity and greater flexibility. All of this improves the service and the reaction time in the actual evolution of the market,” Pinzger qualifies.
Another of the future questions has involved the introduction and innovation of new varieties, preferably those belonging to club varieties. Today, they have 5% of club varieties, but they expect to reach 16% in 2025.
