The rain had a big effect on the attendance at this year’s National Ploughing Championships. Just over 200,000 attended, which is a shortfall of the near 300,000 that attended last year’s event. Despite the weather, many trade stands attracted lots of interest. If your business had a stand at the event, I hope you did well and that it was a worthwhile venture for you.

It is often said how trade shows are great places to renew acquaintances, meet new people and, more importantly, clinch some deals. This is all true but recalling the different stories that happen during the shows is always nice to hear.

For example, at the National Ploughing Championships, It was a memorable show for many, including Niall Tiernan, export sales manager of SpreadPoint, whose company won the Machine of the Year with the SpreadPoint SP-900 lime spreader. Fighting off stiff competition, this was a good news story for the Northern Ireland based company.

On the final day of the event one exhibitor had to leave his stand in a hurry. Colm Doran, from Tullow, County Carlow, and the inventor of a piece of machinery that allows four hay bales to be carried at the same time, left his stand at 2pm to get married at 4:30pm. He left a ‘Back Soon – Gone to be Married’ sign at his display. What a lovely story.

The National Ploughing Championships could be seen as a kind of kick-start to attend trade shows and conferences, either as an exhibitor or visitor. Many of these will be taking place over the next few months. They include the CEMA Summit (23rd & 24th Oct. at the Autoworld museum, Brussels); SALTEX (1st & 2nd Nov. 2023 at the NEC, Birmingham); Agritechnica (12th – 18th Nov. in Hanover); LAMMA (17th & 18th Jan. 2024 at the NEC, Birmingham). 

Then there is our very own Service Dealer Conference and Awards on Nov. 30th at the Crowne Plaza, Stratford-Upon-Avon. Great speakers and talks are lined up. The theme of this year’s conference is Taking Care of Business. You can find out more by visiting here.

A growing trend for future agricultural trade shows is the exhibiting of more environmentally friendly machines. There will be many debates around the contribution of the agricultural machinery industry to sustainable farming. It is already happening where the agricultural machinery manufacturing sector is developing solutions and innovations to address the sustainability issue. From robots to precision farming, from soil working machines to alternative fuels, the pressure is on to have these machines available, which, it is hoped, will eventually replace traditional fossil fuel powered equipment.

Who knows what tractors will be running on in thirty years’ time? It may well be the case that our fossil fuelled cars will be replaced with electric ones. I think it is far too high an expectation to think that the same will apply to large tractors and heavy powered equipment. The present battery technology of delivering and storing energy is simply not going to work with these machines.

Having said that, more sustainable machines are being displayed in our showrooms. Providing the service and back-up for them will be very important.

Toro U.K. Limited, the UK manufacturer of Hayter and Toro lawnmowers and turf equipment, say they were delighted to spend three days with the Cyril Johnston sales team recently, who distribute their machinery in Ireland.

 
The visit included in-depth training on the Revolution series products as well as the wealth of Hayter and Toro Consumer products. The visitors had the opportunity to use all products and familiarise themselves with the features.

The team were also taken on a site tour of the UK factory facilities and saw behind the scenes in the research and development department where they saw the process from mower conception to production. Head engineer, Richard Carter, described the testing and work that goes into ensuring the products uphold their reputation.
 
Craig Hoare, sales & Marketing manager, said, “Hayter Ltd started trading with Cyril Johnston in the 1950s. There is a great relationship between both companies and something that we are proud of and continue to invest into. We look forward to working with the Cyril Johnston team further.”

CEMA Vice-President Alessandro Malavolti gave a keynote speech during the opening plenary of the first-ever Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Global Conference on the topic of agricultural mechanization. Mr. Malavolti underlined how farming is a private business, and it needs to be profitable so that farmers are able to invest in sustainability enhancing technologies. “Our industry has and develops technologies to allow farmers to make a positive impact on the environment. With our machines we can increase yields to feed a growing world population”.

Alessandro Malavolti

FAO Director-General QU Dongyu opened the conference works saying that "mechanisation and automation are powerful forces for change, but they must be sustainable and economically viable".

Europe is the biggest producer of agricultural machinery in the world. Open dialogue with farmers is always at the forefront of the manufacturers’ work, which was underlined by Mr. Malavolti’s intervention.

The Global Conference on Sustainable Agricultural Mechanisation (GAMC), which took place from 27-29 September, marks the first time the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations holds such a high-level event on the topic. It is, in the words of FAO Deputy Director General Maria Helena Semedo, a historic moment for FAO.

CEMA is proud to have partnered with FAO to make the event possible, an effort recognized by FAO Deputy Director General Beth Bechdol in her opening speech. In particular, CEMA provided support to organize a unique machinery exhibition of farming equipment in the FAO premises. This is the first time agricultural equipment took such a prominent spot in FAO, and it offered a chance to showcase how innovative agricultural mechanization technologies can provide individualized solutions to all types of farmers. CEMA’s Vice-President Alessandro Malavolti opened the exhibition along with FAO’s high-level representatives.

The European Agricultural Machinery Association, has been cooperating with FAO since 2015, when a Memorandum of Understanding was signed to promote the potential of mechanization as a game-changer for farm work. The joint efforts to promote sustainable mechanization have been ongoing, and it will be important to keep this cooperation going for many years to come, turning concepts more and more into action. “Only if we work together, we can put an end to global hunger and improve the sustainability of agriculture” said Malavolti.

CEMA took the occasion to thank FAO Director-General QU Dongyu, FAO Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol, FAO Deputy Director-General Maria Helena Semedo and Josef Kienzle, Lead of the Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization team of FAO Plant Production and Protection Division.

Organisers of SALTEX have announced that currently there’s a 16 percent increase in international exhibitors attending the 2023 show from 2022.

Sarah Cunningham, director of commercial and events at the GMA, said, “Not only is the exhibitor list internationally diverse, but there are visitor registrations from 39 countries already too. Statistically, this makes 2023 the most internationally-recognised show in the grounds care sector - that’s with weeks still to go until the show and the potential for more to come.”

Geoff Webb, CEO of the GMA, added, “SALTEX isn’t just a show for the UK, it’s a show in the UK for the entire industry worldwide. Author of FIFA’s official handbook on pitch maintenance, Richard Hayden’s comments about the UK being the global leader in grounds management, are true. The UK is 10 years more advanced than anywhere else in the world and has expertise like no other when it comes to sports-turf management.

“He is absolutely right that ‘if you want to work in technology, you go to Silicon Valley and the UK is the Silicon Valley of turf’."

The GMA says that this year there are international exhibitors coming from Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and USA.

Briggs & Stratton has announced the appointment of Joe Liotine as chief executive officer, effective August 29, 2023.

Joe Liotine

Joe joins the manufacturer after serving 18 years in senior roles at Whirlpool Corporation most recently as President and chief operating officer where he led the Global KitchenAid business, had global responsibility for product development, R&D, sourcing, and IT.

Joe said, “I am delighted to be joining Briggs & Stratton and look forward to working closely with the talented Briggs’ team to provide market leading products and services to our customers and to drive the continued growth and success of Briggs & Stratton.

"Briggs & Stratton has over 110 years of experience, is trusted by millions of people around the world and is backed by the largest service network in the industry. It is ideally placed to take advantage of the multiple market opportunities and I am delighted to be leading this great business at this exciting time.”

Bobcat say their employees and members of its leadership team around the globe have been celebrating the company’s support of nearly 100 organisations and municipalities through volunteer efforts to benefit the places where their employees live and work.

 
On 12th September 2023, more than 1000 employees in 12 countries participated in company-organised projects, volunteering thousands of combined hours.

“As an organisation, we aim to create positive social impact to enhance the communities where we live and work, as well as benefit our neighbours,” said Scott Park, Doosan Bobcat CEO. “Our community engagement initiatives are a company tradition, and over the years, we have supported hundreds of organisations with thousands of volunteer hours all with the goal of creating a better tomorrow.”

In Dobris in the Czech Republic for example, where Doosan Bobcat's headquarters for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) are located, 179 executives and employees participated in activities including a city and forest clean-up project; bush and tree planting; fence painting and preparing a surface for a children’s playground. Volunteers used a fleet of Bobcat equipment including skid-steer, compact track and wheel loaders with various attachments to help in the projects.

Projects varied across all 15 of Bobcat’s EMEA business sites and involved 407 employees serving a combined total of 949 hours on behalf of their local communities. Their tasks included recycling projects, litter picking and a wildflower meadow restoration project, as well as various donation projects such as blood donation, food donations for charity organisations and money donations to fund local fire brigades. 

The Kress Commercial 60V chainsaw eliminates any need for petrol and is the first truly cordless solution for commercial use.

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This Commercial chainsaw has a uniquely designed Brushless motor to maximise the torque and provide a combination of 1.8 kW output power and 24m/s chain speed, equaling the performance of a petrol chainsaw. The ergonomic design, optimal balance, and minimal vibration enable extended and comfortable operation without experiencing fatigue. The Kress Commercial line of tools for turf care professionals and landscapers has been designed from the ground up to perform with the unprecedented power delivered by the 8-Minute CyberPack batteries.

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And exciting news for 2024 is that the new top handle chainsaw, the perfect addition to the range ideal for arborists, is expected in Spring 2024, as well as many more innovative tools for professionals.

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