BTME 2023 was certainly a show to remember.
This year’s event was felt like a great success for everybody involved. organisers, exhibitors and visitors alike, with a record turnout on the Tuesday with well over 2500 people reportedly attending the show.
My colleague, Steve Gibbs, editor of our sister title Service Dealer, echoed the same feelings in his blog for our dealer readership. Steve also wrote, “Jim Croxton of show organisers BIGGA was clearly delighted with how the event was going when he spoke to the trade press on day two of the show. He said day one "felt outstanding" and it was back to how the show used to be. Nostalgic is how he described it.”
I would tend to agree with Jim’s comment, there was a definite buzz all around the show during all three days, with exhibitors and visitors alike praising the positiveness around this year’s event.
You can gain a sense of the buoyant mood of the show by watching our excellent video, here.
Every stand was busy during the three days and everybody I spoke to was upbeat. A feeling prevailed that industry was finally coming out of Covid, moving forward and getting back to near normality.
For me the show is all about people and their passion for the industry. Everyone I spoke to was pleased to be supporting the event and having the chance to meet up with friends and colleagues.
Without doubt the combination of BIGGA’s three core events (conference, education seminars and exhibition) coming together over four days, within the same venue, has cemented the reputation of the week, bringing in a strong core of Industry professionals.
What also helps is the fact that Harrogate is a most welcoming town, with plenty of restaurants, pubs and hotels, providing a wide range of post-show offerings - quite often where most business deals are conducted.
Clive Nottingham with the newly painted Paladin mower
One of the first exhibitors I spoke to was Clive Nottingham who was proudly presenting the new livery colours of the Paladin following the buy-out by Dennis SISIS last year. They certainly looked stylish could attract a lot of attention in the coming year.
As usual there were a number of new products and services being launched at the show. Campey Turfcare had three new products that caught my eye, during a press call to their stand.
Members of the press attending an event on Campey's stand
Campey have taken over the rights to distribute and sell the popular Graden scarifyer range, along with offering a new handheld Vredo Disc pedestrian seeder and a new 7m wide tractor mounted rotary brush system, similar to the Redexim Top Brush 6000. However, this brush can be set to windrow debris into lines for easy collection. These types of powered brushes are becoming popular on golf courses and large sports fields, being used to clean up worm casts, brush off dew, lightly scarify and more importantly help present the playing surfaces.
Vredo pedestrian Disc Seeder
It was also the first show for Envu, who last March bought the rights to sell a range of Bayer products that were sold under the umbrella of Bayer Environmental Science’s division.
Envu offers solutions to control pests, disease and weeds in non-agricultural areas such as vector control, professional pest management, vegetation management, forestry, and turf and ornamentals. It is headquartered in Cary, North Carolina, United States, and is active in over 100 countries. Nearly 900 employees in total will transfer from Bayer to Envu.
Tim Tim Peeling of Envu, centre, with fellow team members
I also met up with Mark Sanderson at Syngenta and was impressed with their large Chafer grub on show, which was attracting a lot of attention,. Mark eluded to the fact that the popular insecticide Acelepryn is likely to be approved for our 2023 season and will be a key Syngenta product along with their popular NemaTrident Nematode product that can be worked in tandem to help control both Chafer and leather jacket pest problems in turf.
NemaTrident are a range of beneficial nematodes selected for their activity on leatherjackets and chafer white grubs. NemaTrident F contains Steinernema feltiae - specifically selected for control of leatherjackets under UK conditions; NemaTrident B contains Heterorhabditis bacteriophora - selected for the control of chafer white grubs.
Other show news centred around BIGGA’s announcement of their collaboration with the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA) to deliver a new programme to offer schools a First Green STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education programme in the UK. You can reead more about that here today.
Jim Croxton, CEO BIGGA 3rd left, announcing the First Green initiative
This was an exciting announcement and I hope this may be a new opportunity to attract the next generation of greenkeepers coming into the industry.
David Golding, courtesy of BIGGA
And finally I would just like to offer a big congratulations to David Golding, an old friend and colleague, who was presented with the Outstanding Contribution Award sponsored by Baroness at BTME, for his long service to the industry.
In a career spanning more than 50 years, David drove educational opportunities for greenkeepers to new heights. Possessing a passion for education and desire to improve development opportunities for his peers in greenkeeping, David’s encyclopaedic knowledge of the industry helped lay foundations that continue to bear fruit to this day as proven with the recent establishment of the Level 5 greenkeeping apprenticeship and the continued development of the Level 2 and 3 qualifications.
