European tomatoes vulnerable to yield losses harmful nematodes.

CROPSAFE visits MACFRUT2026

Ben Talin, MoreThanDigital

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Described as the “international fruit and vegetable trade show where business gets juicy”, MACFRUT2026, 21st-23rd April 2026 in Italy, seemed like an ideal opportunity for CROPSAFE to get to know our wider agricultural community a little better. The three-day event was very productive, providing valuable insights into the current market landscape. As one of the largest fruit and vegetable trade fairs in Europe, the event demonstrated the significant market interest and intense competition within the sector.

A key takeaway is that effective positioning will be critical moving forward. The market is highly saturated with alternative biological pesticides, crop protection products and related agricultural solutions. Pricing, affordability and integration with existing farming solutions emerged as major decision-making factors for potential partners and customers. Overall, there are significant paint points in the industry, and interest in new approaches is clearly high.

CROPSAFE's exploitation manager, Ben Talin, at MACFRUT2026
an interior view of the MACFRUT exhibition

During the event, we collected over 100 business cards and contacts from across the agricultural ecosystem. Our current focus is on sorting and structuring these contacts into relevant clusters and categories, in order to support follow-up activities and partnership development.

One of the strongest recurring themes was interest in building clusters and collaborative ecosystems with us. However, feedback showed that many stakeholders are cautious because similar groups and initiatives already exist. Nevertheless, they see strong potential if such collaboration is executed properly and delivers clear value.

Another major discussion point centred on trust and the quality of recommendations — specifically, how to ensure that the ‘right’ solutions are recommended to farmers and industry stakeholders. Several participants expressed interest in contributing their expertise and helping to further shape these processes.

Additionally, two European projects were identified during the event, both of which expressed an openness to collaboration and clustering activities.

From a business development perspective, the event was highly successful. We established connections with farmers, pesticide producers, fertiliser companies, seedling producers and other stakeholders across the agricultural value chain, both upstream and downstream. Many of these stakeholders have expressed interest in potentially joining future consortia, collaboration initiatives or joint activities with us.

The event was a great success, with lots of new contacts and a lot of momentum. We’ve been recommended more events like this in the future, such as Fruit Attraction in Madrid in 2026 and Fruit Logistica in Berlin in 2027. It was a fantastic opportunity to expand our network and confirm the demand and relevance of the initiative within the agricultural sector.