Business · Companies · 8 hrs ago
Melinda growers receive record payments after 2025/26 apple season
Melinda, a consortium of fruit-growing cooperatives in Italy’s Val di Non and Val di Sole, paid its members a record sum after the 2025/26 commercial season.
The 2025 apple harvest exceeded 410,000 tonnes, about 10% more than the previous year.
The season generated about €390 million in gross revenue, while payments to members topped €220 million.
The consortium presented the figures ahead of its November assembly, while warning that the result came amid deep uncertainty.
It says water shortages are a growing concern for irrigation and for systems that protect apple blossoms from spring frost.
A hot, dry spring in Trentino and declining water availability across Italy underline that risk.
Pests and apple diseases also continue to affect growers’ work and earnings, and climate change is linked to both water uncertainty and the spread of crop diseases.
Melinda growers received more than €220 million in payments after the 2025/26 commercial season, the highest total in the consortium’s history.
The season generated gross revenue of about €390 million.
The 2025 apple harvest exceeded 410,000 tonnes, about 10% more than the previous year.
Melinda presented the results ahead of its November assembly, describing them as achieved amid deep uncertainty.
The consortium also highlighted water availability and crop diseases as challenges for agriculture.
- Who
- Melinda, a consortium of fruit-growing cooperatives in Trentino’s Val di Non and Val di Sole, and its grower members.
- What
- Growers received more than €220 million, a record payment total for the consortium.
- When
- After the 2025/26 commercial season. The results were presented ahead of the November assembly.
- Where
- Val di Non and Val di Sole, in Trentino, Italy.
- Why
- The 2025/26 season generated about €390 million in gross revenue, following a harvest of more than 410,000 tonnes.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Melinda harvested more than 410,000 tonnes of apples, about 10% more than the previous year.
Trentino’s spring was among the warmest and driest in recent decades, according to Meteotrentino.
Melinda recorded gross revenue of about €390 million and payments to members of more than €220 million.
Melinda’s board presented the season’s results.
- Grower payments
- More than €220 million
- Gross revenue
- About €390 million
- Apple harvest
- More than 410,000 tonnes
- Harvest change
- About 10% higher than the previous year
- Assembly
- November
What people are saying
It is a result that gives us satisfaction because it rewards the work of the members, the cooperatives and all the staff, to whom we extend our sincere thanks, but it must be viewed within a very complex context, characterised by deep uncertainty