Elche hosts the First Technological Fair of the Ilicitano Countryside

Elche's mayor, Pablo Ruz, the rector of UMH, Juan José Ruiz, and the general director of Common Agricultural Policy, Ángel Marhuenda, inaugurated the First Technological Fair of Camp d'Elx this Monday. The event is held throughout the day at the Congress Centre from 11:00 to 19:00.

The fair aims to be a meeting point and showcase for emerging technologies relevant to agriculture. Among the technological areas to be addressed are drones and applications, probes and sensors, software and platforms, satellite images, cultivation models, and process digitalisation, according to its promoters.

According to the councillor of the area, José Antonio Román, this fair "marks an important milestone for the future of Camp d'Elx. Our goal is clear: to bring the most innovative tools to our farmers and sector professionals, so they can improve productivity, optimise the use of vital resources such as water and energy, and be more competitive in an increasingly demanding market."

This First Technological Fair aligns with the objectives of the Camp d'Elx Dynamisation Plan, an initiative by the Elche City Council aimed at analysing the reality of Ilicitano agriculture and improving its competitiveness. The plan intends to increase the income of local farmers and enhance competitiveness through, among other actions, the adoption of innovative technologies and the promotion of innovation in the agri-food sector, according to municipal sources.

This plan will be developed over three years, from 2025 to 2027, with the idea of shaping the future of Ilicitano agriculture. The fair directly contributes to these strategic lines of the plan by providing field professionals with the tools that will allow them to advance in digitalisation and efficiency.

The fair's programme is developed in two main areas within the Congress Centre: the exhibition area, which hosts demonstrations and displays of technological solutions by leading companies in the agro-technological sector, and the workshop and roundtable area located on the first floor.

The morning session includes a workshop on new technologies in agricultural research, training, and development, which began at 11:00 am with an institutional opening, followed by a presentation on systems and applications for smart cultivation in the agri-food sector.

In the afternoon, starting at 16:00, there is a session focused on agri-food technology for precision agriculture, with various presentations on new sources of information for agronomic decision-making, the use of precision agriculture for more sustainable application of phytosanitary products, digitalisation for irrigation control through soil probes, and the contribution of digitalisation to fruit harvesting. The session concludes with a roundtable featuring companies from the sector.

Román pointed out that technology "is a necessity to ensure the sustainability and profitability of our agricultural operations in the current context. We invite all sector professionals to attend this fair and discover first-hand how digitalisation can transform their activities."

For his part, the mayor of Elche, Pablo Ruz, assured that "Elche is an agricultural, industrial, cultural, service, tourist city, a total city, where all sectors have weight."

"The agricultural sector has a progressive weight, which we must understand and believe in. Moreover, by applying technology to the primary sector, we will advance much more effectively," Ruz added.