Support Obst Arbo: results for the professional arboriculture

In 1947 today’s date Agroscope started the collection of on farm data to draft extension information and indices for grower prices. Agridea and Agroscope lead the project Support Obst Arbo (SOA), which gives detailed basics for growers, extension and research. 20–25 references fruit farms deliver their data to the project to evaluate the on farm and on plot profitability. The evaluation with normed salary and machine costs shows that the benefit of the half of the growers is equal to zero or lower. This limits the flexibility of investments. From 2001 to 2011 the variety distribution has changed. Gala, Braeburn e Golden Delicious are still the most popular varieties. However Milwa, Fuji, Nicoter and Scifresh increased in surface. The profitability between cultivars is very variable: Gala, Braeburn e Fuji achieve better results, while Golden Delicious and Milwa have poor results. This because Golden Delicious is low in price and Milwa has low yield despite good prices.