Fegasur returns after a two-year break with around 10,000 visits

Some 10,000 people passed through the C-Ifeca venue in Jerez de la Frontera between Friday, November 6 and Sunday, November 8 during the twenty-fifth edition of Fegasur, the National Livestock and Agriculture Fair. The event returned after a two-year forced pause due to the health situation affecting livestock, and it did so with full capacity in all scheduled activities, according to the Diputación de Cádiz. The public responded both in the technical sessions and in the tastings, workshops, showcookings and demonstrations of muleteer, equestrian and Andalusian rat-hunting dog work. The exhibition featured up to 502 head of cattle (Limousin, Retinto Berrenda and Avileña), sheep (Churra Lebrijana, Lojeña and Merina de Grazalema), goats (Florida), pigs (Iberian pig) and equines (Andalusian donkey).

For professionals, the livestock exhibition and the Official Auction remain the core of the fair. At the bidding held on Sunday morning, framed within the annual calendar of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, more than 30 bidder cards were issued and 51 of the 52 cattle of the Retinta, Limousin and Avileña breeds that went to auction were awarded, all above the starting price. Alongside the bidding, stands from select livestock associations were set up to showcase the peculiarities of each breed. The Diputación, through the Area of Ecological Transition headed by second vice-president Javier Vidal, had its own stand to promote the province's livestock and agricultural production, and organized school visits within its Environmental Education programs. For its part, the Institute of Employment and Socioeconomic and Technological Development (IEDT) presented two Spain-Portugal cross-border cooperation projects, INNOPYME and AGROSOCIAL PLUS, 75% co-financed by the European Union through ERDF funds, in a session entitled «Innovar con los pies en el campo» on digitalization and artificial intelligence applied to the rural environment. The technical program, with the involvement of COAG-Cádiz, UPA-Cádiz and the Junta de Andalucía's Interfaz project on forest fire prevention, addressed extensive livestock farming, the advance of the oriental hornet and the aforementioned fire prevention, and closed with a lecture by agricultural engineer and publisher Manuel Pimentel Siles. ASAJA-Cádiz showed agri-food products from the province and the photographic exhibition «Bestiarium», by José Barea, also drew public attention.