Sustainability: it symbolizes a credo, the success of which depends upon numerous factors.  In South Tyrol’s fruit growing industry, this idea to follow a demanding path has been around for a long time, probably longer than the term “sustainability” as such even existed. In order to be able to refine goals and to work with concrete measures toward a promising future, the sustainability strategy sustainapple was created. With this, the most important guardrails have been established for the development of South Tyrol’s fruit industry over the next ten years.

In the strategy, which was drawn up by Dr. Alfred Strigl and Sylvia Brenzel, M.A. of the consulting company Plenum in collaboration with the most important figures of the South Tyrol fruit industry, three fields of action were established:

• The South Tyrol Apple as a Worldwide Model of Success
• We Feed People in a Healthy Way
• Nature as a Partner

Participating in the strategy in addition to the two sustainability experts were also representatives of the following institutions: the marketing organizations VOG (the Association of South Tyrol Fruitgrowers Cooperatives) and Vi.P (the Vinschgau Valley producers), the South Tyrol Auctioneers, the AGRIOS Workgroup for Integrated Fruit Production, Bioland, the South Tyrol Fruitgrowing and Winegrowing Consulting Center, the Association of Graduates of Agricultural Schools (ALS), the South Tyrol Farmer’s League, the Laimburg Research Center, and the Provincial Department of Agriculture.

From the future-oriented strategy with the name sustainapple, which defines the “three times three of sustainability”, in addition to the three concrete fields of action the associated plans for measures can be derived. These will be implemented in the coming months and years according to a binding schedule. In addition, with the drawing up of the strategy, the seventeen sustainability goals of the United Nations (SDGs – Sustainable Development Goals) were taken into consideration.