Interpoma, the highly regarded apple show in Bolzano, Italy, wrapped up its seventh biennial show November 15-17.  Seminars included topics such as “fertilizers – innovation in nutrition” and “improvement of fruit colour.”

For the first time, a Technology Award was presented in field and post-harvest categories to highlight the technologies and equipment exhibited at the show that are the most innovative and have the greatest impact on apple-growing and crop protection techniques and the post-harvest phase.

The field category award (innovations in production and crop protection) was presented to the Biogard Division of CBC Europe with “Mister Pro + Isomate CM Mister 1.0”.

The jury said: “By taking an existing technology of pest control using mating disruption and adding a combination of pest phenology, real-time environmental monitoring and microcomputing control hardware and software, CBC Europe have developed a simple technology that supports a sophisticated, advanced pest control system. This environmentally responsive technology will overcome the multiple shortcomings of current mating disruption technologies.”

The  post-harvest category award went to BIOMETIC, a division of MICROTEC, with “Q Eye XP.” The jury stated: “The Q Eye XP by BioMetic is a scanner used in the packaging line that is effective in detecting internal fruit defects. Its innovative approach involves the use of X-rays, an emerging technology not yet practically applied in the fruit industry. It complements other already established multi-sensor quality scanners, thus reducing post-storage waste with benefits for consumers. These technologies can also be used to measure additional parameters in other fruit species, and thus represent an additional value. It is expected to impact post-harvest handling and quality evaluation in the apple fruit industry.”

Special mention in the field category went to the GOTRACK company from Poland. It was recognized for its own “GOtrack Remote Control.” In the post-harvest category, special mention went to GREEFA for its “SmartPackr2” and Meccanica Zucal for its packaging robot “Polus 48.”

The first Interpoma Technology Award featured entrants from eight different countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Great Britain and Spain.

Source:  Interpoma November 17, 2018 news release