Agrilevante: a platform for Mediterranean agriculture

Agrilevante 2025 is all set to take place in grand style. On display at the Bari fair grounds from 9 to 12 October, the exhibition of agricultural machinery and equipment is increasingly eventful and increasingly “Mediterranean”. FederUnacoma (the Italian Agricultural Machinery Manufaturer's Federation), - organizer of this biennial event now in its eighth edition - has already allocated 90% of the available exhibition space, and expects to be“sold out” in just a short while, with over 25,000 square meters of net space occupied by a total number of exhibiting industries no less than the 350 of the last edition, coming from 20 countries. “The technologies on display cover all types of goods, from tractors to operating machines, from equipment to components - explained the Head of FederUnacoma's Communications, Girolamo Rossi during the international press conference held this morning in Athens - but they all have a common denominator, Mediterranean agriculture, with its typical and superb products”. “At this moment in time characterized by a new geography of markets - said Rossi - the Mediterranean area can take on strategic importance for economic activities, with profitable partnerships for all the countries of the basin, where, moreover, encouraging economic trends are being seen if we consider that, according to the EBRD forecasts, there should be a GDP growth of around 4% this year in the Maghreb area, growth of around 3% in the Balkan area, and Greece should see a positive balance of 2.6%”.

The exhibition, which is aimed at farmers, contractors, agricultural technicians and agricultural mechanics attracts economic operators from Mediterranean Europe, the Balkans, the Middle East, North Africa and also from sub-Saharan Africa. In 2023, there were a total of 95,000 visitors, of which more than were 4,000 foreign visitors from 60 different countries, while the official foreign delegations organized in collaboration with ICE saw operators from 27 countries, a result that will be surpassed at this year's event, which already has 38 delegations of operators selected by ICE officially confirmed. Alongside the traditional divisions and the Livestock Show, which is organized in collaboration with ARA Puglia and which features livestock of the most prized breeds on display in the vast area in front of the New Pavilion, this year's event features a new Showcase called Levante Green, dedicated to gardening and green care machinery, and the new Extend area, dedicated to institutional bodies. There will also be the REAL area, reserved for agricultural robotics, with exhibitions and field demonstrations of robots and highly automated digital systems, while technological innovation will have take on increasingly greater importance with the Agrilevante/Machinery for Mediterranean Agriculture Competition, which includes the Agricultural Processing Award and the Green Care Award. For the first time ever the Club of Bologna, the prestigious association of experts and academics from all over the world that will assess agricultural mechanization scenarios and suggest an agenda of priorities that will also prove useful for the purposes of planning in political settings will be at Agrilevante. “Mediterranean agriculture has great potential for development due to the quality of its products - Girolamo Rossi added - but it must face serious challenges, such as climate change which reduces water resources and threatens soil fertility, challenges that can be overcome thanks to constant technological improvement”. In this context, cooperation between Italy and Greece is even more important. Greece is an important commercial partner for Italian manufacturers, with over EUR 120 million of imported machinery, and which not by chance boasts the largest number of economic operators present at Agrilevante (310 at the 2023 event, followed by Turkey with 250 operators and Spain with 220). “However, cooperation between Greece and Italy is not limited to commercial aspects – concluded the representative of FederUnacoma – but promises to extend to the field of research, with task forces to assess agronomic and agromechanical emergencies, and professional training projects for operators”.