Modern fruit and vegetable growing passes through varietal innovation. Its meeting point is in the Plant Nursery area, the Hall dedicated to innovation in the nursery supply chain, a moment of sharing and discussion for breeders, editors, nurserymen, producers, technicians and researchers. The appointment is at the next edition of Macfrut, the international fruit and vegetable supply chain fair, scheduled at the Rimini Expo Centre from Tuesday 6 to Thursday 8 May 2025.
Coordinated by Stefano Lugli of SL Fruit Service and now in its third edition, the Show has established itself on the international scene for its verticality, placing the national fruit and vegetable nursery sector at the centre, a strategic sector in the context of Italian production chains. Some numbers in this regard highlight the centrality of this sector. The fruit and vegetable nursery sector “weighs” over 600 million euros in production value, 50% from exports, thanks to a thousand companies involved on a dedicated surface of 16,000 hectares (source Civi Italia).

A dynamic sector, therefore, in which the theme of innovation is fundamental in the context of new varieties, breeding, rootstocks, research and new commercial strategies. All themes that will be at the centre of Plant Nursery which at Macfrut 2025 proposes two events promoted in collaboration with Soi and Civi Italia. First of all the international symposium "Vip” (Varieties International Project), dedicated to genetic innovations in the varietal sector, divided into four in-depth seminars on the latest results obtained by international public and private breeding projects. Together with the world's leading experts, breeders and publishers, the latest innovations in the sector in terms of innovations on kiwi, citrus, stone and pome fruit varieties will be presented. The second event concerns two Round Tables on modern technologies applied to nursery production, on new commercial management formulas for varietal innovations in the fruit and vegetable supply chain and on qualification and certification processes in international nursery sectors.

“At an international level,” comments Lugli , “varietal innovation has increasingly become an essential tool for making fruit and vegetable production more sustainable from an environmental point of view, for optimising the efficiency of resource use, thereby guaranteeing greater profitability and competitiveness for businesses, and for adapting the offer of new genetic discoveries to the qualitative needs of markets and consumers.”

Lugli then goes into the merits of the Plant Nursery area at Macfrut 2025. “Still on the subject of genetic innovations, together with the conference part, visitors will be able to talk directly with breeders and publishers in a specially equipped desk area inside the Plant Nursery Area. Furthermore, thanks to the creation of a real training field, in the dynamic area visitors will be able to touch with their own hands the latest technological innovations introduced in the nursery sector. Through a direct comparison with the technicians of the exhibiting companies that present the latest innovations in the sector at the fair, participants at Macfrut 2025 will be able to enrich their knowledge and receive all the technical information for the correct creation and management of new fruit plants”.