2015 With 310 farmers, 120 employees, and 960 ha of cultivated land, the “Genossenschaft der Obsterzeuger Schlanders” (GEOS), a fruit growers’ cooperative founded in 1946, is one of the largest members of the “Vinschgauer Produzenten” (VI.P). The cooperative organizes its working year around the optimal ripeness of their fruit: In carefully determined time slots, the farmers harvest 70,000 metric tons of apples and deliver them to the two GEOS locations in Schlanders. The fruit is stored in CA cells (Controlled Atmosphere), guaranteeing virtually no loss of freshness, until it is sort- ed, packaged, and shipped over the course of the following season – about half of it to other countries.