Presented this morning in Bari, as part of Enoliexpo, the 46th edition of the international exhibition of agricultural mechanics organised at the Bologna Fair by FederUnacoma. The 2024 edition promises to be with record numbers, and with a new section dedicated to demonstration tests of drones, agricultural robots and advanced digital systems. Economic operators are expected from all over the world, and great attention is paid in the Italian agricultural sectors to the new incentive system that will be defined in the coming months, and which could relaunch the market in regions with high demand for mechanisation such as Puglia.
The organisational machine of EIMA 2024 is running at full speed and preparing a memorable edition. The international exhibition of machinery and equipment for agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, bioenergy and greenery – which will be held at the Bologna fair from 6 to 10 November – already has around 1,500 exhibiting industries booked, and continues to receive requests for participation from all over the world. Eight months before the opening of the exhibition, EIMA International has already allocated almost all of the available exhibition area in the BolognaFiere district, using the covered pavilions and large outdoor spaces for practical demonstrations of mechanical vehicles.
The very wide range of products and the presence of all the major agro-mechanics brands lead us to expect success with the public too, after the turnout of the 2022 edition which marked an all-time high for the event with 330 thousand presences and with official delegations of 80 Countries. These are the data released by Simona Rapastella – General Director of FederUnacoma, the Confindustria federation which represents agricultural machinery manufacturers and which is the direct organiser of the Bolognese event – in the presentation press conference, held today at the Fiera del Levante in Bari, in scope of the Enoliexpo exhibition.
“Over the years, EIMA has established itself as one of the ‘top’ events not only in the agro-mechanical sector but in the trade fair scene in an absolute sense – said Rapastella – thanks to the technical contents and also the economic-political values that make it an event of reference point for economic operators, farmers, contractors, agro-mechanical technicians, professional and trade organisations, as well as for researchers, students, public administrations, municipalities and the ranks of hobby farmers, lovers of gardening and activities in a rural environment”.
To facilitate the different segments of the public, the exhibition – which showcases over 50 thousand models of machines and equipment – is divided into 14 macro-product sectors (from tractors to tillage machinery, from harvesters to vehicles for treatments and systems for the mechanised management of livestock) and in 5 specialised salons, dedicated respectively to components (Componenti), bioenergy (Energy), gardening (Green), irrigation (Idrotech) and advanced electronics (Digital ). “Innovation is the strong point of EIMA International – underlined Rapastella – which also presents the prestigious competition-exhibition of Technical Innovations in the 2024 edition; while the demonstrations for bioenergy supply chains, the show of the Tractor of the Year finalist tractors, the Green E-motion trials, dedicated to gardening and greenery care machines, as well as the demonstrations of drones and agricultural robots in the REAL area (Robotics and Electronics for Agriculture Live), which is one of the novelties of this edition, will have an informative nature”.
Over 150 conferences, workshops and conferences will animate this edition and aim to describe the trends of modern agriculture and analyse the factors that can positively or negatively influence the sector market. EIMA International is taking place in a year in which the problems linked to the increase in production costs and therefore price lists and the problems of trade, logistics and transport resulting from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East still persist – it was recalled during the conference – but beyond this particular conjuncture, the demand for agricultural machinery at a global level remains high, and is destined to grow considerably in the coming years. The need to renew the agro-mechanical park also emerges in Italy, for which however substantial public incentives are needed.
“Having utilised the incentives relating to the tax credit for 4.0, and other support systems such as the Inail Decree for machines with high safety requirements and the Sabatini law for the purchase of capital goods, as well as the multi-year incentives of the PSR – the general director of FederUnacoma recalled – agricultural businesses are waiting for the incentives provided by the PNRR and the Innovation Fund launched by the Government to finally come into force”. Even the Apulian operators, who have always been numerous at EIMA, are looking at the economic framework and the incentive system to reactivate a market which – in line with the national one – is in decline.
In 2020, the year of the pandemic crisis, the Apulian tractor market recorded 1,614 units sold, and in the two-year period 2021 and 2022 it marked a surge with 2,135 and 1,813 units respectively; but in 2023 the number of vehicles sold in the Region amounted to 1,493, with a decrease of 17.7% compared to the previous year, a worse figure than the national average, attested to a decrease of 12.9% (equal to 17,600 machines).
“It is foreseeable that by next autumn the new aid regime will be fully operational – concluded Rapastella – and this should give further interest to an exhibition like EIMA, which is aimed at the entire audience of possible buyers, from large companies agricultural to the smallest production companies.
