EIMA 2014: a phenomenal edition

EIMA International can vaunt extraordinary numbers for the 41st edition which just closed with 235,000 visitors logged in. Also growing was the number of foreign business people arriving to confirm the exposition as an agricultural mechanization point of reference on the world scene. Technologies, the economy as well as social cooperation in agriculture were among the themes which came to the surface during the event. The president of the Italian Federation of Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers, Massimo Goldoni of FederUnacoma, affirmed that agricultural mechanization is one of finest expressions of our civilization

The agricultural mechanization exposition came to a close with historic results. The number of visitors attending the most recent edition in 2012 came to 196,000 and those arriving this time reached 235,000 for a 20% increase which went well beyond all expectations. From the early hours of Wednesday the 12th until the evening of Sunday the 16th, the flows of the crowds through the entry gates of the trade fair center were incessant as were the arrivals of foreign business people. The data made public by FederUnacoma disclose the growing number of business people from abroad came to 38,700 for a 21% gain over the previous edition. With visitors arriving from 124 countries, 1,800 manufacturing industries exhibiting, 650 of them coming from abroad, 60 official foreign delegations and 700 accredited members of the media from 40 countries, EIMA International was crowned as an event of global relevance. The five-day run of the exposition included a schedule of more than 150 conferences and meetings hosted on mechanization issues and agronomics and agricultural policies. There was also room for social matters and cooperation and economic ethics in a conference on Agriculture and Legality dedicated to agricultural social cooperatives operating on confiscated lands controlled by organized crime. On this issue, Cécile Kyenge, a European Member of the Parliament for the Italian Democratic Party, used the EIMA International window to recall the fundamental role of agriculture for the creation of balanced economic systems in the developing countries as well as the advanced counties. The FederUnacoma president declared, Over these days we have witnessed enormous crowds of people amazingly attentive and motivated for learning even the frontiers of the technical details of the machinery and equipment presented at this review. Agricultural machinery is the product of very special ingenuity and talents in manufacturing and one of the finest expressions of our civilization.

Minister Martina: “Invest in mechanization”

 
“Here in Italy the manufacturing price which crosses into the primary sector is in balance and we are envied all around the world. I strongly believe in the interaction between production chains between agricultural mechanization and the development of the primary sector.” This what Minister for Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policy Maurizio Martina had to say in his statement at a conference on the issue of young people in farming organized at EIMA International by the publication Informatore Agrario in collaboration with FederUnacoma, Nomisma and Cattolica Assicurazioni. The minister went on to refer to the positive signals arriving from abroad and voiced his worries about the domestic market. For this reason, it will be necessary to plan adequate instruments capable of solving the knotty problems of the sector. “I really think that the job is to engage the banks in more virtuous relationships, more direct and, above all, more courageous in this sector. We must foster investments in machinery as much as possible. And just as the way it was for Sabatini manufacturing (legislation named for a past minister), we have to think of instruments which help and incentivate the renewal of the machinery inventory also on the side of agiculture,” he affirmed. Among the instruments discussed by Martina was the set of European Union Rural Development Plans which could be considered for facilitating and supporting the modernization of agricultural machinery and technologies. This point was taken up in dealings between the minister and regional representatives but full agreement has not yet been reached. Martina noted that the path was still open and the discussion would move ahead.