The meeting brought together 405 international experts and 7,829 agri-food industry professionals from more than 15 countries, who discussed the keys to making agriculture a more profitable and efficient business, adapted to the current climatic, social, and economic context.

Regenerative agriculture as a basis for the future

Expo AgriTech 2024 has exposed the opportunities of regenerative agriculture to respond to the lack of soil health and fertility, which damages the margins of professionals and their profitability. According to figures shared at the fair, up to 70% of European soils are deteriorated and 53% of them, globally, have lost fertility. This suggests that this model will not be able to continue in the same way for the next 40 years. For this reason, regenerative agriculture is an increasingly integrated option in the sector, with 15% of farmers in the world already applying its practices. An example of this has been shown by Francesc Font, farmer and Founder of The Regen Academy, who has demonstrated that, with this formula, the land he works with has increased its fertility by 10 times, has reduced pests by 20 times, has increased the use of water by 50% and has improved its quality by 20%.

Drought transforms the sector

Extreme weather events, with prolonged and frequent dry spells, will also mark the years to come. Thus, if greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced, droughts could be 90% more common in July and 88% more common in August by 2080. Hence, the congress highlighted the importance of water optimisation through precision irrigation and water-efficient technologies, such as digital twins, AI, blockchain, and agrovoltaic energy.

Agriculture without farmers

The agricultural sector in Europe is shifting from a traditional concept to prioritise the business vision, transforming the figure of the farmer. Expo AgriTech 2024 explained how large investment funds are betting on companies dedicated to crops and harvests in order to maximise their profitability. In this line, the strong regulatory pressure is causing that only business structures with a broad organisational base can meet the challenges of the agricultural activity of the moment. Thus, 2025 will see new players in the sector, requiring a business plan and a defined strategy, elements that were not previously common in agriculture.

Biotechnology to become more resilient

The use of modified RNA to make plants more resilient to climate change will continue to expand. In this sense, the meeting studied genetically edited rice varieties that adjust to the salinity of the soil, which increases due to the rise in sea level in coastal areas, as in the Ebro Delta (Catalonia); or wheat plants whose root shape has been altered to absorb more water.  In relation to fruit, crosses are being made artificially to make the plants more resistant, more productive, and the results tastier. Another possibility provided by biotechnology is its use to produce microorganisms, whose contribution to the soil reduces the use of chemical fertilisers.

AI is also in agriculture

Exponential technologies, led by artificial intelligence, are already in the agricultural industry. Therefore, Expo AgriTech 2024 has shown the capabilities of generative AI in crop prediction, comprehensive advice to the farmer and decision making in industry companies, among other functions. Despite this, according to figures shared at the fair, only about 7% of farms in Spain incorporate AI to optimise their processes, a percentage that indicates the potential for the development of this technology in agriculture in the coming years. In addition, the forum has claimed the need to promote the support of the administration so that small and medium enterprises can introduce this digital solution, and others, in their activities.

The field becomes robotised

Farm robotisation in Spain is at an advanced stage, although at an uneven pace. In this aspect, automation is reaching specific areas, such as harvesting or product classification, and large-scale farms, which have the economic capacity to invest in it. These factors explain why, in 2024, only 30% of farmers will incorporate advanced technologies, despite the fact that 90% indicated that they wished to do so. Some examples presented at the fair were self-guided tractors that monitor farms; articulated arms that pick fruit at the optimum moment thanks to artificial vision; quadruped robots and drones that analyse the state of the land; or androids that burn weeds using liquefied gas.

Agriculture, more profitable with data

Data has become a transcendental element in the agricultural field to maximise profitability, optimise resources and ensure excellence in production. However, Expo AgriTech 2024 has also highlighted the challenges presented by its treatment, highlighting the lack of standardisation, the scarcity of quality information, the difficulty of accessing open data from the administration and uncertainty on the part of professionals about the incorporation and updating of this type of solutions. With the aim of promoting data farming, the experts have advocated the dissemination of its benefits – both at an operational and profitability level – as well as the possibilities offered by training to overcome the barriers to technological adoption.

The challenge of young farmers

Agriculture, at European and national level, faces the challenge of the lack of generational replacement. The reasons include the fact that it is a sector perceived as volatile, in addition to the fact that it presents various difficulties such as the limited availability – in the rural world – of public services, conflicts arising from access to land ownership, the complexity of the bureaucracy and the high initial investments. For this reason, from the administration – from the CAP – and private initiatives are encouraging new generations to see the field as a profitable business opportunity. In this context, Expo AgriTech 2024 has addressed access to microcredits and the advantages they provide for the modernisation of family farms.

The win-win of carbon credits

The fair also addressed the importance of carbon certifications following the launch of the first EU-wide voluntary framework for the certification of high quality CO₂ removals, which applies to agricultural soils. The congress unveiled how these credits are being achieved, how they translate into subsidies and how land is being justified as being carbon-enriched. According to the experts, there are accepted practices within the framework of the regenerative concept, such as minimum tillage, reduction of dependence on external elements, rotations and soil cover, diversity and resilience, which contribute to adding credits. Francesc Font, a reference in this field, presented a pilot project led by The Regen Academy, which advocates measuring and marketing carbon credits captured by the soil thanks to sustainable practices. Thus, Font has considered that each ton of CO₂ that the soil takes could generate a credit for an estimated price of €30, which would contribute to stimulate the transformation of the fields.