At FierAvicola focus on the key issues for the sector’s development

President of the European Parliament's Agricultural Commission Hon. Paolo De Castro will be speaking.

Poultry breeders anxious about deadlines they are facing in the coming months, and in particular the law which comes into effect January 1, 2012 regarding cage requirements for laying hens. In addition, there has been plenty of worrying news circulating around the globe these days about the quality of hens, chickens and by-products due to the feed used by chicken farms. FierAvicola, the international poultry and rabbit breeding trade fair, a traditional meeting place for businesses and organizations dealing with the development and protection of the sector, once again in 2011 will provide commercial opportunities as well as time for discussion and information-gathering on the sector, thanks to the participation of sector specialists from the Italian and EU governments, trade associations, and academia. Among others Paolo de Castro, President of the Agricultural and Rural Development Commission of the European Parliament will be attending, and will speak at FierAvicola on Friday, April 8th.

Over the three days of the trade fair discussions will be targeted specifically at breeders: first of all on Friday, April 8th at 3:00pm there will be a discussion entitled "Implementation of EU Directive 74/99 on the wellbeing of laying hens, the evolution of breeding systems and the egg market", with a group of Italian and European experts discussing this sensitive and controversial topic. Presentations will be given by representatives of the General Directorate for Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission in Brussels, ISPA - the Institute for Spatial Analysis and Planning in Areas of Intensive Agriculture-, the Scientific Institute of the University of Vechta, Lower Saxony, and the Italian Ministry of Agricultural and Forestry Policy, in addition to representatives from animal rights NGOs. Partners in this initiative include the Forlì-Cesena Chamber of Commerce for business matters, and the Province of Forlì-Cesena, Assoavi and IBCD Group, looking after the technical-scientific and organizational aspects.

Saturday, April 9th at 9:30am the spotlight will be on the poultry sector covering topics ranging from meat chickens to all poultry and rabbits with a conference on issues related to waste from raising poultry and rabbits. For some time now there have been interesting opportunities to use these materials in the energy sector. FierAvicola's organizers intend to offer a significant contribution in terms of up-to-date information on the potential for this material, ways of using it, incentives for adoption, in particular for livestock effluents and dealing with nitrates. The Centre for Animal Production Research, COPA-Cogeca (association of EU agricultural producers and cooperatives), and consultants from both the Emilia Romagna Region and the Province of Forlì-Cesena will outline the business and regulatory status of the sector in Italy as well as in the European Union, and then enter into more specific technical details. To complete the picture companies specializing in waste treatment and energy production systems will provide information. This meeting is organized by Fiera di Forlì and Avitalia along with IBCD Group.

These are just a few of the events taking place as part of the Trade Fair scheduled for April 7-9, 2011 at Forli's trade fairgrounds.

A panorama of over 150 exhibitors will provide opportunities to survey new and innovative services and products including equipment and installations for poultry breeding, poultry farming and the feed industry, genetics, incubation, veterinary medicine, banking services, insurance, information systems, and even institutional and academic representation. In addition there will be meat processing and slaughtering companies, as well as egg and egg-product processing. In the egg- and meat-packaging sector several international operators including European leaders in the industry will be in attendance. They will be bringing new technologies for selecting and packing eggs with electronic weighing systems, as well as cartoning machines and accessories for ensuring the maximum preservation of food products in compliance with the traceability requirements set by national health agencies and EU bodies. These machines are widely used in today's packaging systems in compliance with current high standards, especially in light of the recent information campaigns following alarming events and requests on the part of consumer organizations.

Now in its 47th year, FierAvicola will once again demonstrate a high level of excellence in the poultry and rabbit livestock and food industry. Historically Italian production has been a model for global production in terms of breeding methods, attention to animal conditions, and rigorous selection of feed, according to a philosophy of the maximum preservation of animals' natural conditions. Breeding is mainly done on the ground, inside sheds or out in the open. To guarantee rigorous and reliable inspections, most Italian producers operate in an integrated production cycle, in other words each single part of the production phase is inspected (selection of raw materials in producing feed, feed mills, poultry farms, hatcheries, processing, packaging and distribution).

There will also be numerous foreign companies who have chosen FierAvicola 2011 as a showcase for their products and services, especially in the meat slaughtering and packaging sector. The delegations of foreign businesses which will be hosted by Fiera di Forlì at the trade fair are currently in the process of being defined. The internationalization projects assigned to IBCD Group and in collaboration with the Italian Institute of Foreign Trade and local Chambers of Commerce are targeting Egypt, Morocco, Bulgaria, Iraq, Romania, Slovenia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and other countries, with the goal of hosting about fifty foreign entrepreneurs and representative delegations; Fiera di Forlì organizers are particularly interested in Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean Basin.

Finally, once again this year the major trade and industry associations have chosen FierAvicola as an occasion to meet and verify corporate body functions as well as to update scientific and academic aspects: these organizations include ASIC- Italian Scientific Association of Rabbit Breeding, SIPA- the Italian Society of Aviary Pathology, and WPSA- the World Poultry Scientific Association, and will concentrate these activities in the first two days of the trade fair.

Partners of FierAvicola 2011, in addition to Fiera di Forlì, include Avitalia, AssoAvi, the Forlì-Cesena Chamber of Commerce, the Province of Forlì-Cesena, the municipality of Forlì, Cassa dei Risparmi di Forlì and Romagna and the Fondazione Cassa dei Risparmi di Forlì.

FierAvicola will be held April 7-9, 2011, from 9:00am to 6:00pm. Entry is permitted only for operators in the sector.