Scene and Heard in 2025: World FIRA and Fruit Logistica
February 14, 2025 
The world of agriculture is constantly growing. During this time of year, that is on display at the many industry get-togethers. I recently traveled overseas to Europe to get a firsthand look at new ag innovations. My first stop was World FIRA 2025 in Toulouse, France. After that, it was off to Berlin, Germany, for Fruit Logistica 2025. Here are some takeaways of what I saw and heard during my travels. Scroll through the gallery for a virtual tour, too. Enjoy!
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Agriculture Meets Innovation at World FIRA 2025
World FIRA 2025 showcased the cutting-edge, autonomous technologies that are revolutionizing agriculture, and empowered farmers with hands-on innovation through a global experience. Here, agriculture met automation technology, and featured an exhibition area, in-field robot demonstrations, state-of-the-industry presentations on the latest innovations in agricultural robotics, and networking with other professionals. The conference, held Feb. 4-6 in Toulouse, France, featured more than 2,000 visitors from over 56 countries — including farmers and top buyers, robot manufacturers, agricultural equipment manufacturers, dealers, technology suppliers, scientists, investors and media representatives; over 40 robot demonstrations under real conditions for field crops, specialty crops, vegetables, orchards and vineyards; and more than 80 exhibitors showcasing the latest in autonomous agriculture innovations.
Awards were presented in four categories: Ag Robot of the Year, a farmers’ choice award for the best robot currently on the market, presented by Future Farming, and selected from the robots featured in the Ag-Robot Buying Guide 2024; Best Start-up, an investors’ choice award for the most promising start-up in terms of investment, awarded by the jury of World FIRA investors; Best World FIRA Robot, a participants’ choice award, for showcased robots receiving the most participant votes, awarded by World FIRA; and the Hackathon Award, scientists’ choice for the best three teams of the Hackatohone organized by RobAgri, the Grand Defi, INRAE, 4D Virtualiz and Opal-RT.
Other highlights included the Dutch Pavilion, featuring innovative start-ups; and the Fundao Pavilion (Portugal) presenting the local ag tech ecosystem.
USA FIRA 2025 will be held Oct. 21-23 in Woodland, CA. More information about this event can be found at fira-usa.com. Dates for World FIRA 2026, again in Toulouse, are to be announced.
Many Fruitful Connections Made at Fruit Logistica 2025
More than 91,000 people in the global fruit and vegetable trade came together Feb. 5-7 in Berlin, Germany, for Fruit Logistica 2025. This year’s theme, “Fruitful Connections,” highlighted a focus on fostering meaning partnerships and collaboration throughout the industry.
Held across 26 exhibition halls, and featuring more than 2,600 exhibitors from more than 90 countries, this year’s event has attracted large numbers of exhibitors from Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Germany and France. This year’s Fruit Logistica reflected recent growth in several fresh produce markets, with record-breaking participation by China, Turkey and Egypt, and notable increases too for Spain and Peru. The conference offered participants three days of unrivalled marketing, networking, innovations and insights.
Expert Speakers and Sessions
This year’s show featured an unrivalled event program with more than 100 speakers sharing thousands of fresh ideas across the show’s five stages. The Fresh Produce Forum explored key industry challenges including supply chain resilience, sustainability and regulatory changes. The Future Lab presented cutting-edge solutions for securing yields despite extreme weather conditions. The Tech Stage, Logistics Hub and Farming Forward forums covered a broad spectrum of industry-relevant topics, including sustainable packaging, efficient cold chain logistics, and advancements in climate-resilient agriculture.
Innovation was at the heart of this year’s event, as shown by the ingenuity of companies competing for its industry-leading Innovation Awards, or the game-changing technologies featured during its three-day Startup World showcase. “People know that when they come to Fruit Logistica, they always see something new and meet decision-makers from all over the world,” said Alexander Stein, Director of Fruit Logistica, in a written statement. “The international fruit and vegetable market is a hugely challenging business to be in right now,” Stein added, “but the feedback we had from our trade visitors and exhibitors is that growth is possible, and the right people were here to make that potential a reality.”
The event program provided up-to-date background knowledge, with more than 100 experts inviting exhibitors and trade visitors to discuss the latest trends and forward-looking concepts.
Fresh Produce Forum. Topics of discussion included modern breeding methods that can be used to adapt seeds to a wide variety of environmental conditions and consumer preferences, the reorganization of supply chains using AI, product safety management in times of increasing regulatory requirements, and growing consumer demands.
Future Lab. The lab presented on topics including how to safeguard harvests and reduce food losses despite difficult environmental conditions, including the diagnosis and eco-friendly control of emerging fungal pathogens, the use of smart sensor traps for pest control and the identification of genetic markers that make it possible to control the flowering time of pome and stone fruit.
Logistics Hub. Here, exporters and representatives of transport companies reported on how they ensure their goods arrive at their destination intact and on time, as well as the digital technologies they employ.
Tech Stage. On this stage, exhibitors delivered 20-minute pitches presenting their machinery and technology innovations to trade fair visitors, covering topics including sustainability and digitization.
Farming Forward. The farming stage focused on how new technologies can help make agriculture more productive and sustainable. The afternoons were devoted to the topic of cultivation under controlled environmental conditions (CEAg) and included a series of six workshops organized by the CEA Alliance.
Science Symposium. On Feb. 7, the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB) Potsdam held a scientific symposium including several short presentations on storage, packaging, food health and phenotyping and AI.
New Technologies on Display
Startup World displayed new technologies throughout the conference, allowing trade visitors to see pioneering technologies across ag tech, digital farming, crop science, and post-harvest solutions. Startups from around the world will showcase innovative solutions that leverage digitization, artificial intelligence, and modern sensor technology. The Top 20 startups that were featured at Fruit Logistica 2025 included:
- Agricom, Data-driven Collaboration from Farm-to-Fork
- AgrigateOne, Supply Chain Trade Automation
- AgStacked, AI-Driven Quality Management
- Agurotech, Sensor Driven Digital Farming
- CargoClub, Sustainable Logistics
- Dockflow, Container & Emission Tracking
- FoodInsights, CSRD & Carbon Reporting Automation
- FreshSens, Post-harvest Storage & Monitoring
- Greenhouse Formula, Online Greenhouse Design & Planning
- Harvest AI, AI-Driven Crop Prediction
- Konzept Green, Organic Fertilizer, Biostimulant, Drought-Solution
- LYRO Robotics, Automated Produce Packing
- Merqato, AI Supply & Demand Planning
- NanoSci, Extending Produce Freshness
- OBORTECH, Supply Chain Traceability & Digitization
- Orbem, Non-destructive Quality Control
- PeelON, innovative, biodegradable packaging solutions
- PhenoRoot, Soil-grown Roots Phenotyping
- Quantified Sensor Technology, Wireless Greenhouse Sensor
- Radiare Technologies, Digital Crop Protection
Innovation Awards
The Fruit Logistica Innovation Awards (FLIA) were presented during the event. Visitors voted for the most innovative products of the year. As a result, this year’s coveted FLIA was won by the Onix orange from AMFRESH, which is characterized by its beauty, versatility and resilience. The FLIA Technology Award went to Fermata for Croptimus, an innovative image analysis technology for the early detection of diseases and pests in greenhouses.
Fruit Logistica 2026 will be held again in Berlin Feb. 4-6, 2026.
For more information and to register, visit fruitlogistica.com.
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