SustainAPPLE

Since the year 2000, we have been supporting over 1.500 local farmers in Hungary and Poland by promoting resistant apple varieties, developed in collaboration with the Federal Research Institute for Cultivated Plants in Dresden-Pillnitz. Thanks to their resistance to various pests and diseases, these varieties require up to 60 % less pesticide use than conventional apples.  

We provide our farmers with comprehensive support, including: 

• Upfront financial assistance for orchard establishment 

• Ongoing seasonal advice and technical guidance from our experts 

• Financial incentives through purchase guarantees and price premiums 

This initiative has led to the planting of 3,5 million trees across 12 different resistant apple varieties. All participating farmers are FSA-verified, ensuring adherence to the sustainability standards of the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI). This approach helps farmers build a stable income while encouraging more sustainable ways of growing fruit. 

Future Garden

To help farmers tackle today’s challenges in fruit cultivation, Austria Juice has set up a 1,2-hectare demonstration orchard in our production site Vásárosnamény (Hungary). 
The goal is to share practical, efficient and sustainable solutions that can be applied directly in the field. 

The orchard serves as a model for modern fruit growing and includes: 

• SustainAPPLE: Resistant apple varieties requiring up to 60 % less pesticide 

• Advanced irrigation systems: undersoil, micro-sprinkler and drip irrigation 

• Enhanced mechanisation to support efficient farm management 

• Field trials exploring the use and effects of plant-based fertilizers 

By combining science-based methods with smart water use and resilient apple varieties, the orchard serves as a role model for sustainable and resilient fruit growing in times of climate change and labour shortages. 

R.I.O. (Regenerative Intensive Orchard)

The next milestone in developing sustainable fruit growing practices is the Regenerative Intensive Orchards project, launched at the end of 2024 and planned to run for ten years. The project brings together science and practice to test how intensive apple cultivation can become both more sustainable and economically viable. Five farmers each provide one hectare of land to cultivate resistant apple varieties at a high planting density of 2.500 trees per hectare – more than double the usual 1.000. 

Key elements of the project include: 

• Focus on humus build-up to improve soil health 

• Use of native plant species between rows to support pollinators and fix nitrogen 

• Precision farming based on soil samples to apply fertilizers and pesticides only as needed 

• Implementation of automation and mechanisation for pruning and harvesting 

The project is scientifically accompanied by a university in order to document the results and make the findings available in a white paper for farmers in the region. Not only the ecological but also the economic aspect is of great importance: The aim is to establish sustainable intensive agriculture that remains economically attractive for farmers and strengthens the resilience of their farms in the long term.