Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/442490
20 JANUARY 15, 2015 Good Fruit Grower www.goodfruit.com W hat's striking right off in this big, beautiful building is that it doesn't have many peo- ple in it. The roof is supported by laminated wood trusses, varnished, like the kind you see in church buildings. But this is no cathedral. It's a large, modern, apple receiving, storage, and packing facility designed for labor effi ciency, among other goals. It packs about 85,000 metric tons (about 4.5 million bushels) of apples a year for the 396 South Tyrolean apple growers in the Val Venosta area who own this cooperative called MIVOR. Val Venosta is a stretch of high valley on the upper Adige River that reaches from the glaciers where the river starts to apple orchards near Merano. It is considered a premier region for production of Golden Delicious. The co-op was created in 2007 when two other cooperatives merged to create Europe's largest, most modern storage and packing cooperative. Packing Apples of Italy A 2015 Special Series with Richard Lehnert Presizing and presorting apples into storage changes the way apples are packed in Italy. by Richard Lehnert Rome Venice Milan SWITZERLAND AUSTRIA SLOVENIA CROATIA FRANCE ITALY Venice SLOVENIA CROATIA CROATIA ITALY SOUTH TYROL (SUDTIROL) Merano Bolzano Packing APPLES PHOTO BY RICHARD LEHNERT Apples move in water throughout the sorting and presizing process, except while on the sorting line where they are photographed by the computer. The apples drop into water after sizing and stay there all the way to the bins.