Carrots once again take the center stage at ZanaFest El Santuario 2026

• ZanaFest 2026 returns this Sunday, April 12, to the municipality of El Santuario (Antioquia), bringing together agriculture, science, technology, culture, and art in one place for all attendees, becoming Colombia’s leading innovation festival dedicated to carrots.
• ZanaFest highlights the potential of carrots, from sustainable production to agro-processing, promoting value-added alternatives as a strategy to strengthen local economies.
• Technical talks, a children’s entertainment area, farmers’ market and entrepreneurship spaces, gastronomic showcases and live cooking shows, the “Best Carrot Cake and Cream” competitions, publication launches, art exhibitions and microphotography displays, and cultural performances are all part of a diverse program designed for participants’ enjoyment and learning.
• This festival, supported by the Mayor’s Office of El Santuario, becomes the ideal platform to share the results and knowledge generated by the Antioquia Zana project, funded by the General Royalties System (SGR), aimed at strengthening carrot cultivation in eastern Antioquia through agro-industrial technification and the promotion of value-added processes under circular economy principles.

 

Rionegro, Antioquia. April 6, 2026. The municipality of El Santuario will once again host ZanaFest 2026, Colombia’s leading innovation festival dedicated to carrots, an event that highlights the potential of carrot cultivation, biodiversity, and agroindustry as drivers of territorial development. The event will take place this Sunday, April 12, in the municipality’s main park, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

ZanaFest 2026 will bring together producers, students, technical advisors, extension agents, entrepreneurs, marketers, processors, and the general community around carrot production and value generation—one of the most emblematic and representative products of the local agricultural economy and the eastern Antioquia subregion.

The program for this edition includes technical talks, a children’s entertainment area, a farmers’ market and entrepreneurship spaces, gastronomic showcases and live cooking shows, art and microphotography exhibitions, and cultural performances—an agenda designed for the participants to enjoy and learn.

In addition, there will be the competition “Best Carrot Cake and Cream,” which highlights everyday and traditional preparations while promoting the preservation of local culinary knowledge and the generation of value-added products around carrots. This activity showcases the talent of regional entrepreneurs and cooks, strengthening recognition of carrots as a versatile ingredient within food systems and gastronomic culture.

 

Editorial production that strengthens knowledge and the carrot value chain

The partners of the Antioquia Zana project will launch five (5) publications at ZanaFest 2026, compiling technical information, research results, field experiences, and recommendations to strengthen carrot production, agro-processing, and commercialization in eastern Antioquia.

These documents become knowledge-transfer tools for producers, technicians, researchers, and other actors in the value chain, contributing to informed decision-making, the adoption of sustainable technologies, and the consolidation of more competitive and resilient production models in the region.

 

Book: What Is This Carrot For?: designed for visionaries seeking to transform carrot production into a source of high value-added, sustainable, and globally competitive products.

 

Catalog: The Value of the Unique (Case: Daucus carota L.): a catalog of carrot materials and surplus with differentiated quality for the bioeconomy of eastern Antioquia.

Book: Carota 360°: a comprehensive model for developing the carrot value chain in the eastern part of the Antioquia department, aimed at strengthening production, agro-processing, commercialization, and technological innovation of the crop by articulating producers, institutions, academia, and the agro-industrial sector, promoting sustainability, value generation, and territorial development in the subregion.

Recipe Book: “From the Root” – Singular Cuisine: culinary creations using carrots from the agrobiodiversity present in eastern Antioquia. Carrots as the star ingredient: innovative carrot-based recipes, including sweet and savory dishes, with traditional and creative preparations using regional agrobiodiversity ingredients.

Comic: The Garden of Knowledge: The Superpower of Difference: an educational publication designed to bring children, youth, and families closer to knowledge about carrot cultivation, the importance of sustainable agriculture, and the value of diversity in production systems in eastern Antioquia—turning differences into “superpowers” that strengthen rural work, agro-industrial innovation, healthy eating, and territorial care.

 

Art and science will also have their place at ZanaFest 2026

To bring research and its results closer to the community, fostering the social appropriation of knowledge, and creating spaces for dialogue between academia, producers, and society, ZanaFest 2026 will feature the ZanArte art exhibition and the Microverse Carrot microphotography exhibition. These initiatives integrate art and science as channels for expression and social appropriation of knowledge, enabling the creative and educational showcasing of the results of the Antioquia Zana project.

In this context, ZanaFest 2026 is consolidated as a meeting space where agriculture, science, technology, culture, and art converge with communities, positioning the carrot as a key agricultural product that drives opportunities for sustainability, innovation, and territorial development in eastern Antioquia.

We look forward to welcoming you to this festival, which celebrates the value of rural work, promotes the social appropriation of knowledge, and demonstrates that through collaboration among academia, institutions, and communities, it is possible to build a more competitive, inclusive, and sustainable future for Colombian agriculture.