In spite of the many difficulties, the Consortium’s production and sales activities are continuing, with the health of staff and consumers as top priority
The VOG Consortium immediately rose to the challenge of the public health emergency in Italy with intelligence and integrity, without underestimating the relative threats.
As well as adopting all the measures recommended by the Government, it has taken additional actions to combat infection, to protect the health of employees, producers and the community at large.
While on the one hand logistics become more problematical and working processes more complex in order to keep staff safe, on the other demand from the market is high: months of march, april and may are indeed very important months for the apple sales season. The Consortium is responding to the increased demand through rational planning of deliveries.
As the European Food Safety Authority has reported, research does not indicate food as a source of infection and affects health.
About the Consortium
South Tyrol – Südtirol has a long tradition of fruit growing. As far back as the 16th century, couriers from the region around the River Adige brought fresh and preserved fruits to the courts of the Austrian and Russian monarchs. However, the opening of the railway over the Brenner Pass in 1867began the triumphal procession. To take advantage of this wider marketplace Coop Lagundo as first fruit growers’ co-operative was founded in 1893, followed by many other co-operatives. Even the Second World War could not hinder the success of South Tyrolean fruit. For it was already on 24th August 1945 that several fruit growers’ co-operatives joined under a new umbrella organisation. “Strength through unity” was the guiding principle behind the foundation.
The Consortium of South Tyrolean Fruit Growers’ Co-operatives, VOG, was born.
From its relatively modest beginning with nine associated co-operatives, VOG has grown quickly to become the largest apple-marketing organisation in Europe. Since the merger with ESO in 1999, the company has experienced ongoing change. As the result of a number of mergers, the 33 fruit grower co-operatives that formed VOG in 2000 have become the 13 members that we see today. These members actually represent 5000 growers who harvest annually between 550,000 and 600,000 tons of precious fruit of highest quality on 10,900 hectares of production area and who continuously strive to guarantee high quality standards, increase efficiency and reduce costs.
