SANT JOSEP FAIR

This event has been a direct witness of agricultural and livestock development over the years.

With the arrival of March, Mollerussa (Lleida) is preparing to experience what is possibly its most traditional event, the “Fira de Sant Josep”, an agricultural event catalogued as the Catalan Fair of Agricultural Machinery. With its origin in 1872, this event has been a direct witness of agricultural and livestock development over the years and thanks to its professionalization, has managed to position itself as an internationally recognised contest.

History

The centennial fair that we know today has little to do with the one that emerged in 1872 when a group of Mollerussa residents proposed the celebration of a weekly market and two annual livestock fairs, one in spring and another in autumn, to the mayor of the municipality. But it was in 1985 when the spring fair, which was held from January 6th to 8th, was moved to the 19th of the same month, within the feast of Sant Josep. At that time, it was also decided to cancel the autumn fair.

In its beginnings, the event was exclusively dedicated to livestock, thus responding to the needs of the time in the region of Pla d’Urgell (Lleida), of which Mollerussa is the capital. However, since 1950 with the proliferation of tractors as substitutes for the mule, the event took a new direction and began a series of exhibitions of agricultural and livestock machinery that, little by little, were replacing the old cattle fair and turning the “Fira de Sant Josep” into a synonym of agricultural and livestock modernisation in the lands of Lleida.

Growth in the second half of the twentieth century

With the adaptation to the new times and new technologies, throughout the 60s and 70s, the fair experienced its moments of maximum growth. The increase in exhibitors, news, commercial transactions, and also visitors made the event a must for anyone who wanted to stay up to date with the new trends in the agricultural and livestock sector. In this sense, the number of exhibiting brands went from 47 in 1960 to 125 in 1966, 211 in the 1972 edition and 314 in 1979. As happens nowadays, during the 80s there was a slight stagnation due to the crisis that affected the sector which it later recovered from. Thus, in 1996 the fair had 278 exhibitors, a figure that grew to 308 a year later.

Commitment to training

If the presentation of the tractor meant a change in the direction of the fair in the 50s, it was also notably marked by the commitment to training. In 1980 a new stage began with farmer training being included in the fair agenda, ranchers and industrialists gave different conferences on topics related to the diverse agricultural and livestock sectors.

construction, functional, safety and respect for the environment, and to ensure technical progress for agricultural, livestock or industrial activities.

The fair today

Currently, the fair continues to take place around March 19th, the San José festival. As a multisectoral event, the exhibition of agricultural machinery and other accessories for agriculture and livestock stand out. Also noteworthy are the exhibition halls, used in the event since 1985, with stands of various local companies and entities and the Motor Show, located in the public swimming pools. The technical conferences and craft stalls complete the annual program of the Sant Josep fair, which already exceeds 70,000 m2.

Received as authentic forums for debate and analysis since its inception, these technical conferences have enjoyed a great welcome by professionals, with good participation scores, and over time have been consolidated as one of the pillars on which the fair is currently based.

Other highlights in recent years have been the call for the Award for Agricultural, Livestock and Agro-industrial Facilities that is summoned within the outline of the fair and is dedicated to rewarding agricultural, livestock and agroindustrial contraptions that represent a notorious advance from the point of view of