Impressive line-up at Prognosfruit 2021 Online Conference

Prognosfruit Conference, Europe’s leading annual event for the apple and pear sector, takes place this week and offers an outstanding programme. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Prognosfruit 2021 will again be held online. The event will take place in the morning of 5 August 2021, when delegates can learn about the key factors that will shape the upcoming season with insightful sessions from industry leaders from Europe and around the world. The 46th edition will explore the upcoming EU apple and pear crops. Climatic conditions will once again be one of the key influencers of the 2021/2022 production outlook.
As part of the programme, Philippe Binard, WAPA Secretary General, will set the scene for the upcoming apple and pear crops, while Helwig Schwartau, Market Analyst at AMI, will share a market outlook based on the crop forecast. Franz Ennser, CEO of Austria Juice, will provide the latest processing trends and Fritz Prem, Europäisches Biobst-Forum President, will review the latest organic production developments, an important aspect considering the European Union’s ambitions to significantly boost production and consumption of organic products as part of the European Green Deal and Farm to Fork Strategy.
Binard said: “This year Prognosfruit will also have strong international connotations with review of other Northern Hemisphere developments. Experts from the US, China, Russia and India will share their perspectives on the outlook and trends for the upcoming apples and pears crops in these other key Northern Hemisphere production regions.”
As usual at Prognosfruit, there will also be space for in-depth exchanges of views in panels with key representatives of EU producing countries and a representative from the Southern Hemisphere. Commenting on the 46th edition of Prognosfruit Dominik Wozniak, President of WAPA, said: “We are increasingly producing and trading under an unpredictable climatic and market environment. Nowadays, late spring frosts, hail, drought, flood, evolving plant health conditions due to climate change as well as factors such as COVID -19 , market access uncertainties or Brexit are significantly influencing our day-to-day production and trading activities. Prognosfruit is the place to learn more from colleagues about how these factors will influence the next apples and pears season. Picking is expected to start this year a bit later than normal conditions. First estimations indicate more production than the previous two years, but we are all looking forward to hearing the consolidated Prognosfruit estimate for a better assessment.”