In 2025, for the fourth time, Hungary’s leading greenhouse tomato industry expo was held—this time in Szeged—with distinguished Hungarian and international speakers.
Organized by FruitVeB, nearly 50 professional exhibitors, 6 Hungarian and 4 international speakers contributed to the success of the Hungarian Tomato Day and Greenhouse Expo 2025 exhibition and conference, which this year was held in Szeged instead of the previously customary location in Mórahalom due to the increased number of exhibitors and visitors. The main sponsors of the event were Global Glasshouse Ltd. and its partner company Olsthoorn (Netherlands), as well as the Herman Ottó Institute Nonprofit Ltd., while additional supporters included Bom Group (Netherlands), Certhon (Gundel Investment Ltd.), Food Autonomy Ltd., Hoogendoorn (Netherlands), Svensson (Sweden), and Van der Waay (Netherlands). The event addressed the most important issues related to greenhouse tomato production in two sections (Professional and Innovation Section, and Subsidies and Development Section) with both domestic and international speakers. The exhibiting companies participating this year covered the full spectrum of cultivation and plant protection tasks and input requirements associated with greenhouse tomato production, and the lecture hall arranged for 160 participants was filled to its maximum capacity.
The conference was opened by Zoltán Gubacsi, Vice President of FruitVeB responsible for greenhouse vegetable production, who, in addition to presenting the program, also highlighted the continuous development of the Hungarian sector.
Dr. Ferenc Apáti, President of FruitVeB, also delivered a welcome address, emphasizing the growing success of the event and the increasing number of visitors and exhibitors, while welcoming the distinguished domestic and international speakers.
The series of presentations was opened by Márton Bittsánszky, Head of the Agricultural Market Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, with his exposition titled ‘The Importance of Thermal Energy in the Greenhouse Sector,’ in which he pointed out that between 2015 and 2023, approximately 120 hectares of new, modern greenhouse production area and approximately 10–15 hectares of heated plastic-covered area were established, and that during this period more thermal wells (26–27) were drilled than in the preceding 20 years. The Head of Department emphasized that the licensing of extraction at thermal wells is carried out with consideration of their specific characteristics, and that a 14‑year transitional period has been provided until the end of 2027 to achieve harmless water drainage and water disposal.
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03 Bittsánszky Márton 20250603 Szeged MPN eloadas Termal Download
Jasper Verhoeven (Hollandia, Royal Brinkman) gave a presentation on the range of hygiene solutions and practical techniques applied in greenhouse facilities in response to the virus threats that have repeatedly shaken the sector in recent years, addressing best practices, the most effective methods, and the most common mistakes.
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04 Jasper Verhoeven – Hygiene Royal Brinkman Download
Alfréd Forray, veteran consultant of Koppert Hungária, continued the topic by providing an overview of tomato virus diseases and the available control options, with particular emphasis on the resistance strategies applied by the major breeding companies (single‑gene vs. multi‑gene regulation), the different types of resistance, and the resistance breakdowns observed so far, as well as presenting the current domestic virus situation.
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05 Forray Koppert – Magyar paradicsom napja 2025 Download
Alessandro Montanarella summarized the cultivation experiences gained in Southern Italy, which may offer answers to the questions increasingly concerning domestic growers due to climate change. He presented numerous local examples and best practices that have already been implemented in cultivation technologies under much hotter conditions than those in Hungary, ranging from greenhouse design to their operation, with particular attention to crop irrigation.
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06 Alessandro Montanarella – Growing in high temperature conditions Download
Floris Coenders, representing Delphy, reported on labor‑optimization methods used in greenhouse tomato production, with special focus on the current level of automation, the cost implications of various decisions and cultivation operations, the development of typical monthly costs, the work‑organization structure commonly used in the Netherlands, and the optimal number of workers required per hectare of greenhouse area.
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07 Floris – Delphy – Day of Hungarian Tomato – Labour Presentation Download
Later, in connection with this presentation, Niels van der Geest, production engineer at Delphy Digital, introduced the algorithms recently developed, which—by adjusting their parameters—can make the monetary consequences of cultivation‑technology decisions predictable, from expected labor costs to estimated yields.
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08 Niels van der Geest – Deplphy – Labour Download
Szabolcs Szigeti, Deputy State Secretary (Deputy State Secretariat Responsible for the Implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy), a returning and welcome speaker at FruitVeB events, reported on the currently active and soon‑to‑be‑launched calls for proposals, their budgets, and their current status, and then answered questions from the audience. In his presentation, he paid particular attention to the call for proposals ‘Support for horticultural greenhouses, cold stores, and postharvest developments,’ which is of greatest relevance to the audience, and to the priorities applied in evaluating submitted support applications.
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09 Szigeti Szabolcs Magyar Paradicsom Napja_Szeged_20250602 Download
The series of speakers was concluded by Lilla Áldorfainé Czabadai, researcher at AKI ITE, representing the Innovation and Digitalization Support Unit of the CAP Network, who outlined the support and cooperation opportunities available to the fruit and vegetable sector, providing a detailed overview of the activities of EIP‑AGRI, HORIZON 2020, HORIZON EU, and the European Innovation Council (EIC).
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10 Paradicsom nap_ITE_K+F+I lehetőségek_20250603_ÁCzL Download
Photo gallery of the Hungarian Tomato Day and Greenhouse Expo 2025 conference:
