Representatives of 6 agricultural cooperatives – apple producers from North Macedonia and Serbia in the period from November 28-30, 2022 were part of the study visit in Trento, Italy, which was organized within the EDGE project: Improved production and quality of selected fruit and vegetables funded by USAID. As part of the visit, the participants had the opportunity to learn about the process of apple production in Italy with a special emphasis on post-harvest activities, that is, the process of storage and packaging.
One of the organizations with which a working meeting was held was ASSOMELA which represents an Italian consortium of apple producers (agricultural cooperatives- the biggest apples producers in Europe and export to more than 80 different countries such as Melinda, La Trentina, Mezzocorona, Marlene, Melavi, MelaPiu and others), established in 1997, and groups together around 80% of Italy’s apple production and 20% of European apple production, also positioned as a major player on a national, European and international level.
Through the presentation of Asomela, the representatives of the agricultural cooperatives from North Macedonia and Serbia were shown a sustainable model for economic cooperation of farmers in cooperatives, groups of producers and even consortiums as the top of the pyramid for mutual business activity, contributing to the improvement of the competitiveness of the offered products and for the diversification of the financing sources of the cooperatives and improvement of their power during the implementation of a new business practices for greater capacity and income.
The group also had the opportunity to attend a presentation by Fondazione Edmund Mach (FEM) an internationally recognized agricultural research institute, which also work as an advisory service for the apple cooperatives of Trentino. Highlights of the Institute’s presentation were the established cluster of new apple varieties, complete coverage with modern automatic weather stations, technology transfer center for integrated pest management…. At the end of the visit the group was presented а innovative Guyot apple orchard which was a demonstration plantation within the Institute.
