• The second day of the ‘ExpoAgro Canarias Innovation Meetings’ will take place tomorrow, Thursday, and will revolve around the by-products derived from agriculture and livestock, regenerative agriculture, and the importance of soil
• Registrations to participate on the second day can be made on the website expoagrocanarias.es

The transition of agriculture and livestock towards more sustainable models, the profitability of crops and farms, and the monitoring of pests through new technologies have been the focus of the training program on the first day of the ‘ExpoAgro Canarias 2023 Innovation Meetings,’ an event promoted and funded by the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, with the collaboration of the Ministry of Primary Sector, Food Sovereignty, and Water Security, and organized by Infecar.

“The goal of food sovereignty involves agricultural and livestock productions, taking care of and maintaining the existing ones, and promoting employment and entrepreneurship in the sector, but also by fostering the knowledge of farmers and livestock breeders and putting avant-garde tools in their hands that allow them to be more competitive in the market,” highlighted the Minister of Economic Development, Industry, and Crafts of the Cabildo of Gran Canaria, Minerva Alonso, during the opening of the event, in which Miguel Hidalgo, Minister of Primary Sector, Food Sovereignty, and Water Security, also participated.

For the island councillor, “it is essential that sector professionals are in perfect harmony with technological changes, innovation, and the use of renewable energies, so that this knowledge allows them a more effective and efficient management of their farms.” In this way, by sharing knowledge, Gran Canaria and its primary sector will be able to “grow in food sovereignty, diversify the economy, reclaim unused lands, and generate a mosaic landscape that, in addition, helps contain and curb forest fires,” emphasized Hidalgo.

The first ‘ExpoAgro Canarias 2023 Innovation Meetings,’ moderated by the island director of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Alejandro Báez, kicked off today, Wednesday, with the celebration of a first day that featured six presentations by experts. The transition from traditional agriculture to more modern and sustainable models has been the focus of the first interventions by the experts at Infecar: the CEO and co-founder of Enkitek, Víctor Canton, shared with the attendees at this inaugural session some of the methods and resources available to farmers to increase the sustainability and reliability of their crops through new tools. The program of presentations continued with the technical director of Ecuórum, Francisco Rodríguez, who explained the profitability of restoring agricultural spaces, and Consuelo Tatiana Gómez, from the Insular Council of Energy of Gran Canaria, who discussed the current situation of agro voltaic energy in Gran Canaria.

The correct monitoring of pests affecting agricultural crops and smart traps, by the director of Ecobertura, Fernando Pinacho; how the new Artificial Intelligence has led to the emergence of new precision agriculture that, with information and the use of technologies, improves its productivity, by the professor of the University of Seville and co-founder of @agrosaptrimble, Manuel Pérez; and the effectiveness of the use of drones in pest control, by the technical director of Agrotecnologías Canarias, José Antonio Haorun, completed the informative program of this first day.

ExpoAgro Canarias 2023 will continue tomorrow, Thursday, December 14, at Infecar with presentations dedicated, in the first block, to the search for the value of by-products derived from agriculture and livestock and, in the second, to regenerative agriculture, which uses existing techniques to restore soil biodiversity. For this, the second day of these ‘Innovation Meetings’ will focus on the treatment of waste, by-products, and the production of insects, with the interventions of the manager of Solmediat, Guillermo Rubío, the doctor and researcher of the Aquaculture Research Group (GIA), Lidia Robaina; the researcher of the water and waste group of the CEIT Technological Center, Tamara Fernández; and the CEO of Bioflytech, Jesús Fernando Rodríguez. In the block dedicated to regenerative agriculture and the importance of soils and biodiversity, the founder and CEO of The Regen Academy, Francesc Font; the livestock farmer and promoter of Granja Zael in Burgos, Andrés Gómez; and the researcher of the Canary Institute of Agricultural Research (ICIA), Federico Laich.

Parallel Activities
How to develop a project that fits with the values of Europe’s leading food innovation initiative, EIT Food -whose objective is to transform the food system into a reliable and sustainable one-as well as establishing the mission and vision of a said project, have been the focus of the first training day of ‘EIT Food: Feeding the Future’ held this morning within the framework of ExpoAgro Canarias 2023. The second day, which will focus on learning about funding options for these projects, will be held tomorrow, Thursday when the technical day dedicated to new control treatments for one of the most recurrent pests in the Canary territory, the diocalandra, will also occur.

Registrations to attend the second day of ExpoAgro Canarias 2023, which will take place tomorrow, Thursday