Agritechnica, a big show for the mechanization

Counting 2,907 exhibitors and 451,000 visitors, Agritechnica 2015 stayed in line with previous editions also in featuring numerous meetings and premiere presentations to confirm the big numbers for the trade fair as an important appointment for international agricultural mechanization

A greater willingness of farmers and contractors to invest was the signal reported for Agritechnica, the great agricultural mechanization exposition which closed November 14th in Hanover. A survey conducted by the organizers found that two-thirds of the visitors arriving declared interest in renewing and expanding their farm machinery inventory. The data were made public in a communiqué issued by DLG, the German Agricultural Society, which sponsors Agritechnica, disclosing that the first balance sheet reported the participation of 2,907 exhibitors, 1,627 from 51 countries abroad, and 451,000 visitors – 69% of them arriving came from the agricultural and forestry sector and 15% accounted for by business people and industry representatives. Among the visitors, 347,000 were German for a 4% gain over the previous 2013 edition, and many of them were farmers, whereas another 104,000 came from abroad, from 124 countries. The largest numbers of foreign visitors came from the Netherlands, 13,000; Switzerland, 10,000; Austria, 9,900; Ireland, 6,900; Denmark, 5,800; France, 4,300; Sweden, 4,100; Finland, 3,700; the UK, 3,200. As regards the decision makers arriving in Hanover, the greatest numbers of these visitors arrived from Central and Easter Europe, Poland, the  Czech Republic, Romania, Lithuania, Hungary and Russia. Another 7,200 were from Central and South America, 1,000 from Oceania, 700 from China, 700 from India and 1,200 from the African continent. The DLG survey also provided interesting information on the motivation behind the business people attending the trade fair. For 20% to 35% of them, their interests were in new features and trends, face-to-face meetings with manufacturers for gaining an overall understanding of the market and what is on offer, information on specific products, exchanges with colleagues and gathering information for planning future investments. The major manufacturers were on hand in Hanover with their most recent advances in the field of sensor and electronic technologies in the Systems and Components Salon, appearing in Agritechnica for the salon’s second edition. The exposition also provided a setting for numerous meetings, conferences and round tables to confirm the way the trade fair sector has become over the years a right and proper international forum for business relations and dealing with exchanges of information and cultural contacts for experts in the field. Italian manufacturers made a strong showing in Germany with 391 enterprises exhibiting the wide ranges of their products, from tractors and harvesting machinery to machinery and equipment for soil preparation, plant treatment, all crop and forestry operations and specific components. Also FederUnacoma, the Italian Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers Federation, came to Hanover with an institutional stand providing assistance and services for their member manufacturers and for supplying information on the federation’s activities, mainly on the front of promotions. FederUnacoma’s appearance at Agritechnica included the presentation of a website advertising Made in Italy campaign with graphics which also featured the trade fair exhibition areas. The federation’s periodical, Mondo Macchina/Machinery World, turned out a special Agritechnica edition published also in German thousands copies of which were distributed to business people and other visitors. The next Agritechnica appointment is scheduled for November 12th to 18th, 2017 with, as is the tradition, the first two days set aside for business people and media representatives.