INTERPOMA celebrates the tenth edition with 20,000 visitors from all over the world

For three days, South Tyrol has been the centre of the world apple sector, thanks to the tenth edition of Interpoma – the biennial international trade show for the production, storage and marketing of apples – at the Fiera Bolzano Exhibition Centre from 24 to 26 November. 20,000 visitors from over 70 different countries (from A for Argentina to Z for Zimbabwe) came to Bolzano. Also present were numerous international buyers and 150 journalists from all over the world… thanks in part to a highly fruitful collaboration with ICE, Italy’s Institute for Foreign Trade, for Interpoma 2016. Spread across 25,000 entirely occupied sq.metres were 460 exhibitors from 24 different nations (including America, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, the UK, Israel, Italy, Holland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Hungary, Ireland, Korea, Slovenia, Portugal and Serbia), all eager to show their wares and products on this international stage.

Interpoma 2016 and its satisfied exhibitors

All the exhibitors interviewed showed great enthusiasm for the positive results achieved at this tenth edition of the only trade fair in the world dedicated exclusively to the production, storage and marketing of apples.

Great interest has also been shown for this year’s guided tours and International Congress: 360 people accepting Interpoma’s offers of guided tours to local apple-growing enterprises… this year with the addition of a tour specialising in organic apple production. Yet again, the three-day International congress “The Apple in the World” drew big crowds, with special interest shown for themes such as “The Apple Market in a Transitional Phase” and “The Consumer Speaks”.

The conference-type programme also included a large number of events and forums organised by exhibiting companies and Interpoma partners. The VOG and VI.P consortia took advantage of Interpoma’s international stage to organise “The most yello^® event of the year – Presenting the new yello^® apple variety”. Another apple variety event bore the title “Varietal tests on apple and pear trees: methods, results and critical issues. The Italian Varietal Lists project”… and was organised by the Laimburg Experimental Centre. Other theme forums included “Sustainable Fruit Growing, today and tomorrow. Tools, techniques and communication”, a part of the Agroinnovation Tour promoted by Image Line; “Innovation in Fertilisation”; “How to protect yourself against non-payment”, organised by Assoconsult; “Present and Future defence solutions against Apple Aphids”, presented by Bayer, and also a forum launched by the Vivai Mazzoni nursery company on “BIBAUM, an innovative nursery system that looks towards the future”. The ACI (Alliance of Italian Cooperatives) and the Assomela apple association organised high level discussions with the most important cooperative groups in Europe, in an encounter titled “New market access and promotion in Third countries: main priorities for European F&V Cooperatives and Producer Organizations in the Russian embargo context”.