The Firagost de Valls has opened this Tuesday morning the first Agroinnova room, a space located in the Kursaal room, to debate the challenges of the Catalan agricultural sector such as climate change or the new diet.
Agricultural technology, the bioeconomy and the world of food are the three main axes of this new proposal that has several exhibitors and a program of presentations where issues such as drought, renewable energy or artificial intelligence will be put on the table.
The fair will last until Wednesday night and brings together more than 300 exhibitors between the Agroinnova room and the multi-sector fair in the city center. From the Valls Chamber of Commerce they hope to receive more than 100,000 visitors.
In the Kursaal room, visitors can taste almonds from trees well adapted to climate change, thanks to a project promoted by IRTA, or attend a talk on more efficient irrigation systems, taking into account the context of drought. In fact, the Valls Chamber of Commerce ranks climate change as one of the challenges facing the agricultural sector today. “All production advances or falls behind”, indicates the president of the Chamber, Josep M. Rovira.
Due to the high temperatures, Rovira points out that “there will be new crops and new food processing.” It also highlights the research that is being carried out to produce new proteins, for example, through algae. “We don’t know where the new food is going, but the agricultural sector must be alert”, underlines the president of the Chamber. For all this and with this new commitment, Rovira states that they want to become a “reference fair, the biggest festival in the Catalan countryside”.
The drought worries farmers, to the point that Unió de Pages is demanding a crash plan to deal with the current context in the vineyard sector. The regional coordinator of the union, David Sendra, says that this year’s drought is “terribly important” and that fewer kilos of grapes will be collected than in other years.
Regarding the challenges, Unió de Pagesos believes that the “loss of food sovereignty” must also be faced. Sendra warns that if food is produced from outside, it will end up having an impact on the price. “We are importing a lot of products from abroad, while we are launching the one here,” says Sendra. “It’s a very important sector, but the farmer is going bankrupt,” she continues.
From the union, the farmers claim that it is necessary to work to make it an “attractive sector” and attract young people. “It is necessary for people to be able to earn a living working eight hours from Monday to Friday,” Sendra values.
The Firagost kicked off this Tuesday morning and will last until Wednesday, with the festivity of the castles at half past eight in the afternoon starring the two colles vallenques. As every year, its programming includes classic events such as the sled drag contest or the hazelnut sack carrier race.
