The 2026 season is set to be one of the leanest apple harvests in the European Union for years, with fruit volumes falling below 10 million tonnes. This is according to forecasts from WAPA – the World Apple and Pear Association – presented on 6 August at the Prognosfruit conference, which counts Interpoma among its event partners.
The international trade fair dedicated to the apple industry, taking place from 25 to 27 November at Fiera Bolzano, will therefore arrive in the midst of a season heavily affected by extreme weather events – including spring frosts, heatwaves, drought and hailstorms – alongside new phytosanitary threats. Against this backdrop, which will leave growers facing the challenge of ensuring product availability in years to come, Interpoma will place particular emphasis on the latest developments in spraying technology.
The European harvest: what to expect
Looking in detail at the data released at Prognosfruit, EU production for 2026 is estimated at 9.5 million tonnes, the lowest figure recorded in the past nine years, down 16 per cent on the previous season and 14% below the three-year average.
Poland, particularly hard-hit by frost, will see one of the most significant declines, with production of 2.7 million tonnes (-30 per cent). France will register a 24 per cent drop to around 1.2 million tonnes, a decline driven mainly by aphids and pathogens. Germany is down, at 1 million tonnes (-11 per cent), along with Belgium (-25% per cent) and the Netherlands (-17 per cent). Italy has held up comparatively well, with 2.3 million tonnes marking a 2 per cent fall. Spain, by contrast, is up 8 per cent, while Greece is approaching 300,000 tonnes with a 53 per cent increase.
By variety, the sharpest declines in 2026 are seen in Golden Delicious and Gala, down 11 per cent and 9 per cent respectively. Red Delicious (-5 per cent) and Granny Smith (-4 per cent) are also down, while Fuji is holding steady (+1 per cent) and new varieties are up 9 per cent, approaching 700,000 tonnes. On quality, WAPA's forecasts point to slightly smaller fruit sizes than last year and an earlier harvest in many countries.
While the 2026/2027 season points to a relatively stable outlook for growers commercially, the main challenge in the years ahead will be sustaining harvest quantity and quality through new technologies and innovative tools.
Spraying technology takes centre stage
Innovation will indeed be a key theme at Interpoma 2026, which will focus on digitalisation as applied to spraying technology – central to turning orchard protection into a driver of strategic efficiency and competitiveness.
"New Approaches in Spraying Technology: Efficiency meets sustainability" is the Day 1 headline of the Interpoma Congress, taking place on Thursday, 26 November. During the day, experts from the scientific and technology worlds will explore solutions to improve treatment precision, optimise product use, reduce off-target losses and guide the orchard towards more efficient and sustainable production models.
But the topic extends well beyond the Congress. As the true common thread of this edition, spraying technology will also take centre stage at the Interpoma Award and in the exhibition area at the FieraMesse H1 Eventspace, which will host the "Orchard of the Future".
Equally interesting for analysing industry developments will be the second day of the international Congress, on Friday, 27 November. "Regional Opportunities and Global Challenges: Latin America in Focus" will provide an internationally strategic perspective on rapidly evolving apple-producing regions in Latin America, including Brazil, Chile and Mexico.
The story continues in ipoma magazine
The first content from the 2026 edition of ipoma magazine, coordinated by expert and consultant Gerhard Dichgans, is already available online, with new in-depth features to be published in the coming days. In an exclusively digital format, continuing the evolution launched in 2024, the fourth issue of ipoma will offer ongoing insights into trends, the future of the sector and the key players shaping the apple industry worldwide.
The 14th edition of Interpoma will take place from 25 to 27 November 2026 at Fiera Bolzano.
