20.04.2018

The Forums are debates on the main challenges facing the agri-food, fisheries, and environmental sectors, held in the Congress of Deputies. In this case, the central theme was innovation, a cross-cutting theme in all activities in the agri-food sector. The goal is to continue promoting the professionalization of the sector, and these Forums highlight this effort with examples of recent technological implementations.

It was structured into roundtable discussions. The first focused on rural areas and depopulation, moderated by journalist and writer Isabel González, with the participation of several provincial councils, the State Rural Development Network (REDER), the Community Development Institute, and Francisco Burillo, director of the "Segeda and Serranía Celtibérica" projects.

The second round table, moderated by the president of the Association of Families and Women of the Rural Environment (Afammer), Carmen Quintanilla, analyzed the future of the rural environment with several people dedicated to agriculture and livestock, such as Inmaculada Sanabria of Quesos Sanabria and Paola del Castillo of Ganaderas en Red. The low profitability offered by the countryside was emphasized, which is why it is believed to weave a more powerful socioeconomic network around agricultural activity. In addition, the importance of innovation and training, more than access to broadband itself, to build a future without leaving the rural environment was highlighted.

Esperanza Orellana, Director General of Rural Development and Forestry Policy at MAPAMA, closed the day by emphasizing the essentiality of the agri-food sector as a solution for revitalizing rural areas and combating the demographic and territorial challenge posed by depopulation. She emphasized the importance of the digitalization process and recalled the Modernization and Diversification Strategy that is being implemented in a participatory manner.