RIVE, for successful viticulture

More than 250 company brands and over 8 thousand visitors: these are the figures for RIVE 2021 held in Pordenone from 10 to 12 November. Numerous thematic meetings and field trials enriched the exhibition dedicated to wine growers, wineries, production consortia, oenologists, winemakers and distributors

The third edition of RIVE, the biennial international exhibition of viticulture and oenology organised by Fiera di Pordenone, in collaboration with FederUnacoma and Federacma, ended on Friday 12 November.  During the three days of the Friuli exhibition, more than 8 thousand visitors attended (+11.5% compared to the previous edition held in 2018) and about 250 brands were on display - up 13% compared to 2018 - offering technologies and solutions for viticulture, grape treatment and winemaking. On a total area of 25 thousand square metres, divided into six exhibition halls, there was on display machinery and materials for nurseries, technologies and equipment for vine cultivation, including fertilisation, soil irrigation and the grape harvesting phase; treatment and use of materials for the cultivation of vines, raw materials, chemical and biological products for pesticide treatment to combat pathogens in the various phenological phases; machinery and equipment and products for the transformation of grapes into wine and for the subsequent ageing process; products for wine packaging; services, equipment, ancillary products and oenological software. A new feature of RIVE 2021 was the area dedicated to dynamic trials - DynamicRIVE - in which a dozen or so companies demonstrated the most innovative technologies for calibrating sprayers and reducing drift, robotics applied to wine-growing, such as the use of drones for vineyard monitoring, robots for pesticide vineyard treatments, and machines with self-driving control systems and artificial intelligence. "The future of the wine-growing sector between ecological transition, digitalisation and market globalisation" was the central theme of Enotrend, the conference area of RIVE that hosted more than 30 meetings dedicated to new trends in the sector. Organised in collaboration with the Friuli Foundation, under the patronage of the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Policies, and coordinated by the technical-scientific committee headed by Attilio Scienza, the event featured numerous meetings, including some on agro-mechanical themes such as Enology and Smart Viticulture: precision automation and robotics from the field to the cellar; Agriculture towards electrification and robotisation; and Modern and innovative techniques for nutrition and agronomic management of vineyards. For the President of PordenoneFiere, Renato Pujatti, the organisers' future objective is "to raise the bar even higher, to the point of proposing RIVE on the major European circuits of wine fairs".