Founded in 1933, the cooperative Cafa Merano has been a member of the VOG since 1945. It has around 300 members who supplied 41.000.000 kg of fruit in 2021.

The world economic crisis of 1932 led to a meeting of 30 farmers in the vicinity of Merano and finally, a few months after this meeting, the ‘Obstgenossenschaft Meran und Umgebung’ (Meran and Environs Cooperative), as the first company was named, was founded. Italy was under fascist rule at the time, so the German name had to be replaced by the Italian name: “Cooperativa Anonima Frutticoltori Alto-Atesini, Merano” (South Tyrolean Anonymous Fruit Growers Cooperative, Merano), abbreviated as C.A.F.A.

Delivered quantities gradually increased after the end of the war and in 1962, the quantity exceeded 20,000 tonnes for the first time. The board of directors recognised that the time had come to act and purchased the area south of the Maia Bassa station, the cooperative’s current headquarters. It was there that the first warehouses with a controlled atmosphere were built and the commercial season could consequently be extended by several months.

In 1964, the members of Maia disassociated themselves and founded the ‘Obstgenossenschaft Meran’ (Meran Cooperative), which was absorbed into the original Cafa cooperative after 42 years with a merger on 1 August 2006.