In the context of the EIMA trade show, which took place in Bologna, Italy, from 9th to 13th November 2022, CEMA member FederUnacoma organized a “European Day”, inviting policymakers from the European institutions to exchange on the issues impacting the ag machinery sector at the European level.
Members of European Parliament (MEPs) from the AGRI, ITRE, IMCO and ENVI committee, involved in many legal files related to agriculture, digitisation (for example the Data Act), cybersecurity, and AI were given presentations on specialised agriculture, the need for specialised equipment and the technical and legal bottlenecks for present and future innovations.
The session was moderated by FederUnacoma President Alessandro Malavolti. CEMA Technical Director Ivo Hostens introduced the topic “The role of Specialized Agriculture in Europe”, highlighting the needs of the industry. It was then followed by a presentation by Professor Domenico Pessina on the "Technological evolution and specialization in mechanization". Overall, the innovation potential is huge but so are the technological, political, and financial hurdles for this small but high value niche market of specialised equipment.
A guided tour to the EIMA trade show completed the day, showing MEPs the novel and sometimes award-winning technologies.