65 percent of this year's guests at INTERVITIS INTERFRUCTA HORTITECHNICA (2013: 55 percent) play a crucial or decisive role in the purchasing and procurement decisions. 44 percent of visitors are planning to make an investment or purchase, mainly in the next six months (2013: 41 percent). "The figures show that we were right on target with the extension of the concept. We are delighted that the German Winegrowers' Association and the German Agricultural Society provided numerous impulses for this year's trade fair and that they were so well received", explained Ulrich Kromer von Baerle, President of Messe Stuttgart.

"INTERVITIS INTERFRUCTA HORTITECHNICA was a successful event. The expectations were clearly exceeded. The topics of this year's trade fair - globalisation, climate change and digitalisation - are currently influencing the market and attracted the interest of visitors", is how Dr. Rudolf Nickenig, General Secretary of the German Winegrowers' Association (DWV), described the international technology trade fair, which finished up on Wednesday. Philipp Schulze Esking, Vice President of the German Agricultural Society (DLG) and President of the Exhibitions Department, also summed up the event on a positive note. Our DLG special "Smart Horticulture" was a huge success. On the whole the feedback was positive. The presentations from high-ranking keynote speakers on future-oriented topics were always well attended. We see huge potential in the special crops industry and in 2016 we managed to create a solid foundation for the next event."

70 percent of trade fair visitors work in viticulture, 19 percent in fruit-growing and 14 percent in special crops, 28 percent of whom market their products themselves. Approximately one third of the guests came to the industry get-together for the first time. 19 percent of the visitors travelled from 56 countries. The top 5 were Austria, France, Switzerland, Italy and Hungary.

Machine demonstrations and tasting sessions as visitor magnets

The programme item "Experience technology live" was very popular. The daily machine demonstration in Hall 7 impressed over 7,000 visitors. In the L-Bank Forum (Hall 1) in the special show entitled "Drones and Robots", sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, representatives from German teaching and research institutes demonstrated innovative prototypes of advancing automation in the cultivation of wine and special crops. In cooperation with DLG Italia from this year's partner country Italy, DLG showcased a global première in the L-Bank Forum (Hall 1) under the motto "Italians take the field – Technology and innovation in horticulture": Visitors were able to understand the entire process of growing lettuce through to the harvesting.

The newly designed DWV tasting zone with a selection of 280 sample wines also received a very positive reception: 1,000 participants obtained a sensory impression of new process technologies on site.

More than 1,000 experts from all over the world attended the 62nd German Winegrowers' Congress organised by the German Winegrowers' Association. Over 150 keynote speakers dedicated themselves to the topic "An authentic and innovative approach to the future – Tackling climate change and globalisation". Federal Minister of Economic Affairs, Sigmar Gabriel, addressed current economic and energy-related topics in his presentation at the conference "Market and Marketing"