Youth Exchange Program - South Tirol, Italy

摘要

In July 2007 I was lucky enough to spend four weeks working in a family orchard in the South Tirol region of northern Italy. Apples are produced very efficiently here and the growers consistently achieve high yields. To go there and see how they do this was a fantastic opportunity for me. Before I went to Italy I expected to see modern high-density orchards on very small land holdings, meticulously maintained but heavily subsidised by the government. While the orchards were well maintained, high-density dwarf trees, the orchardists I met had an average area of nearly 10 hectare and their businesses didn't rely on government money.