Success for the 2022 Agriumbria trade fair
Among the spring agricultural shows, Agriumbria makes a comeback, bringing to life the exhibition spaces of UmbriaFiere with all the latest innovations for primary activities and a large number of professional and amateur visitors
The 53rd edition of Agriumbria, the exhibition dedicated to agriculture, animal husbandry and food organised by UmbriaFiere, was held in Bastia Umbra (PG) from 1 to 3 April, returning to its traditional dates after being interrupted by Covid in 2021 and the September edition in 2021.
Inaugurated by the President of the Umbrian exhibition centre, Lazzaro Bogliari, and the MIPAAF Undersecretary Francesco Battistoni, the President of the Umbria Region, Donatella Tesei, and the Councillor for Agricultural Policies of the host region, Roberto Morroni, the event saw the participation of 430 exhibitors and once again welcomed many professional and hobbyist visitors, especially on Sunday, when attendance reached a record level achieved in 2019. Protagonists of the exhibition: agricultural machinery and equipment; fruit plants, ornamental plants, rare flowers, country and outdoor equipment and furnishings; excellent local gastronomic products, workshops, tastings and show cooking; and many, many animals from cattle to donkeys for onotherapy, to various birds for a total of 600 specimens.
Animal husbandry is as always in the spotlight with the Chianina and Romagnola breed auction, the national Limousine and Charolais exhibition with the parade of champions, the award ceremony and parade of champions of the Chianina and Romagnola breeds, the first national Sarda breed ram competition, and the interregional Italian Friesian breed exhibition.
Then, on the second day of the event, a memorandum of understanding was signed between UmbriaFiere spa and the Italian Breeders' Association, represented by the presidents of the two bodies, Lazzaro Bogliari and Roberto Nocentini, which officially appointed Agriumbria as the National Meat Hub. Similar protocols were also signed with the Anacli and Anabic Associations - respectively the National Association of Charolais Limousine and the National Association of Italian Meat Cattle - for their annual participation in Bastia with the national meat cattle shows.
On the agro-mechanical front, the major brands of agricultural machinery manufacturers were present. FederUnacoma took part in the show with an institutional stand and organised a press conference on Saturday 2 April during which President Alessandro Malavolti presented data regarding the trend of the agricultural machinery market in Umbria in 2021 and Director Simona Rapastella illustrated the main novelties of EIMA International 2022. The data for the region point to an increase in sales of 13.5% for tractors in 2021, with 479 units compared to the 422 registered in 2020; combine harvesters and telehandlers recorded +30% and +71.4% respectively, tractors with loading platforms recorded a decrease of 21 units from 26 to 5, while trailers remained essentially at the same levels as the previous year with 134 vehicles sold. A total of twenty meetings were held as a corollary to the exhibition, involving trade associations, universities and local authorities. Among the various in-depth talks was the Energy indipendent farm meeting, held on Sunday 3 April, during which Franco Cotana, from the Department of Engineering of the University of Perugia, and Alessandro Zilli, alternative fuels business manager at New Holland, presented circular economy projects for farms with operational models and an analysis of the performance of the world's first mass-produced biomethane tractor, the T6 Methane NH.
Lazzaro Bogliari's comment at the end of the event: “We feel the closeness of national and regional institutions, which I thank. The exhibition centre can grow further and become a technological and commercial hub for Central Italy. A sincere thank you to all exhibitors and trade associations that have believed in the restart”.
Antonio Ricci Award
Agriumbria 2022 was also the venue for the presentation of the awards of the 4th edition of the Antonio Ricci Prize that UmbriaFiere set up - in collaboration with the Edagricole publishing house and the University of Perugia - in 2017 to honour and remember one of the most important agricultural journalists, who passed away in 2016 at the age of 80. Antonio Ricci graduated in agronomy from the University of Umbria and was a manager of economic organisations in the agricultural sector, president of the Agronomy Academy of Pesaro, a consulting member of the Oil and Olive Academy of Spoleto and animator of olive-growing organisations, awards and industry exhibitions. He was one of the founders of Edagricole and the agricultural press association. He also oversaw the communication of the Bastia agricultural review for many years.
The award includes two different sections. One dedicated to industry journalism and one to the best degree thesis on an agricultural theme submitted to the Umbrian University of Agriculture. The first award went to the Umbrian editorial office of Ansa and was collected by the office representative Claudio Sebastiani, and the second to student Lorenzo Torelli for his paper on sustainability in organic tomato production.
