Tech, best practices give Chinese apples big edge

By Zhao Ruixue in Jinan, Sun Ruisheng in Taiyuan and Ma Jingna in Lanzhou | | Updated : 2021-09-15 Quality quartet Last year, China and the EU rolled out measures to protect 100 of the EU's geographical indications and 100 Chinese geographical indications against imitations. Apples from four areas in China－Shandong's Yantai and Wendeng in the city of Weihai, Jingning county, Gansu province, and Jixian county in Shanxi province－have attained the geographical indication classification, amid the growing global recognition of quality Chinese agricultural products. Farmers produced 220,000 tons of apples last year and a modern industrial park covering more than 2,600 hectares has been set up to tap markets, in line with the industry's expansion plans. Jingning's orchards are situated 1,340 meters to 2,245 meters above sea level, average annual rainfall is over 420 millimeters, there are 2,250 hours of sunshine a year and the average daily temperature variance is about 12 C. More than 66,600 hectares of orchards produced about 820,000 tons of apples last year, with an output value of about 4.6 billion yuan, according to industry figures. Li Jianming, head of the county's fruit research institute, said investments include state-of-the-art "smart-sorting" production lines, while packaging lines have also helped provide jobs for more than 1,200 local farmers.