Agriumbria, a winning formula
“Business and folk festival” is the definition coined by the organisers of Agriumbria to tell the exhibition that opened the spring agricultural fair season with 450 stands, 2,800 brands represented and 600 garments in the sections dedicated to breeding
Expanded exhibition spaces and outdoor demonstration areas are the main novelties of the 55th edition of Agriumbria, the Bastia Umbra (PG) exhibition dedicated to agriculture, livestock and food, which was held from 5 to 7 April which received 86,000 visitors.
Thanks to the opening of the North Area of UmbriaFiere, the total area of Agriumbria has reached 69 thousand square metres and has allowed the organisers to accommodate an additional 50 exhibiting companies and to create a space dedicated to the static and dynamic exhibition of vehicles and equipment for forestation.
The event started with an inauguration ceremony in the presence of the Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry Francesco Lollobrigida and numerous regional and local institutional representatives.
A busy calendar of meetings, workshops, tastings, show cooking were the corollary to an event that sees a varied range of merchandise on display - fruit and decorative plants, equipment and objects for the countryside and outdoors - and especially livestock and agricultural machinery.
As always, the livestock section is articulated, with national and regional exhibitions, market, auctions, evaluation competitions and morphological analysis for different breeds of beef and dairy cattle, sheep and goats, tunnel species, horses and donkeys, organised with the main sector associations including AIA, Anabic and Anacli.
On the agricultural machinery front, the major brands in the sector are present, directly or through local dealers, for a wide overview of vehicles and technologies for the different crop operations, with particular attention to the novelties studied by manufacturers to improve efficiency and production quality of the primary activity.
The collaboration between the Umbrian Trade Fair Authority and FederUnacoma continues, so that even this edition of the Perugia exhibition saw the Federation present with an institutional stand in Hall 9, and with a press conference that was held in the afternoon of the opening day. During the meeting, the general manager Simona Rapastella, presented the 46th edition of EIMA International (BolognaFiere, 6/10 November 2024) and took stock of the trend of the national and regional agro-mechanical market. In the first three months of the year the Italian tractor market recorded an overall decline of 25% with 3,812 units registered, with significant declines also for combine harvesters, tractors with loading platform, trailers and telehandlers. Compared to the general figure, the Umbria Region showed greater resilience, with a decline of 4.4% in the first quarter, with 86 tractors sold, of which 70 in the province of Perugia and 16 in the province of Terni.
This is the fifth edition for the award dedicated to Antonio Ricci – journalist, agronomist, executive of economic and agricultural organisations who died in 2016 – that UmbriaFiere, in collaboration with the Faculty of Agriculture of Perugia and the Edagricole publishing house, promotes on the occasion of Agriumbria of which Ricci was also an important collaborator and consultant. The award provides a double recognition: for a journalist who has particularly distinguished himself in the narration of the primary sector, and for a student of the Italian agricultural faculties who in his dissertation dealt with the theme of environmental/economic sustainability and multifunctionality. For the first category, the prize went to Giorgio Pannelli, an expert in the olive production chain with over 260 scientific and popular publications on the subject; and for the second to Giorgia Carone, graduated from the Perugia university with the thesis “Evaluation of the food efficiency of Reggiana dairy cows in different climatic conditions.”
This was the comment of the president of UmbriaFiere, Stefano Ansideri, at the end of the event: “These were three intense, beautiful and stimulating days, also and above all for the level of debate and proposals put in place by trade associations, institutions and bodies, partners of the event, which I thank. Agriumbria represents, better than any other promotion or marketing action, the best advertisement for our agro-livestock companies, which have the opportunity to show themselves directly to families and consumers.”
