The organisers of Sival gave a very positive review of the 34th agri-horticultural show, which took place on 15th, 16th and 17th January 2020 in Angers, France. The threshold of 700 exhibitors was reached for the first time, thanks to an extension, which increased the surface area of the show by 4000 m2. The number of visitors also increased from 24,000 in 2019 to 26,000 this year. Finally, a new international milestone was reached with 55 nationalities being present (compared with 45 in 2019).
Climate change was a major topic at the show, featured mainly at the conferences of the second Fruit 2050 event. Twenty-one prizes were awarded to the winners of this year’s Sival Innovation competition, at an evening event held at the Angers congress centre on the theme of Agricultural Technology (AGTech). Two inspiring conferences were specifically dedicated to the irrigation professionals. “Optimising the irrigation practices used on vegetable crops” and “Fertilisation and Irrigation: the secrets of successfully growing organic tomatoes”.
As far as the irrigators are concerned, the three main manufacturers of drip irrigation systems were present: Rivulis, Netafim and NaandanJain. There were also several distributors and dealers and manufacturers of sensors, meteorological stations and irrigation management software. The exhibitors were satisfied that the show was well-attended; but on the other hand, they were unhappy about the inconsistent layout of the booths. In fact, the irrigation exhibitors were scattered across different exhibition halls and sometimes they were difficult to locate.
