We are a world class in breeding, speakers agreed at the opening ceremony

The National Show of Livestock, the ANIMAL TECH fair and the National Gamekeeping Show 2019 were opened by the Prime Minister, Minister of Agriculture and other distinguished guests. The ceremony took place at the dairy cattle demonstration site in Hall P in the dignified and impressive sets consisting of five shapely bulls.

Exhibitors, visitors and VIP guests, including delegations from Northern Macedonia, Belarus, Armenia, Russia and Senegal, filled the Auditorium to the last seat. Their host, CEO of Trade Fairs Brno Jiří Kuliš,  welcomed them to "the most expensive barn in the world". He pointed out that with this show, Hall P once again demonstrates its versatility. He thanked Czech  farmers for their demanding work and congratulated them for their  international success – for example, a Czech bull won a French championship. Since there is no other similar event in Central Europe, Jiří Kuliš expressed his hope that the Brno National Show would gradually become an international exhibition. In the end, he wished the workers a lot of success and also rainfall to get enough feed.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš in his brief address underlined the importance of agriculture. “I'm glad to be here. It is necessary to show that agriculture is important for us and the main goal of farmers is to nourish our population. We are not self-sufficient and we should think more of future generations, enough water and other things. I keep my fingers crossed for the success of all farmers, because then all of us will be doing well,” the prime minister said.

Minister of Agriculture Miroslav Toman thanked all exhibitors and the Czech-Moravian Union of Breeders, and said that the Brno show confirms the high standards of Czech agriculture and breeding.“The Ministry of Agriculture supports livestock production; this year, we count on twice as much money as last year for animal care only. Last year it was over 300 million crowns, and 800 million this year, ”said Miroslav Toman and thanked the present Finance Minister Alena Schillerová for her forthcoming attitude towards farmers.

The speeches of the government officials were positively replied to by the President of the Agrarian Chamber of the Czech Republic Zdeněk Jandejsek. He thanked the government for the importance it assigns to agriculture, which, according to him, is also shown by the participation of the Prime Minister and other ministers at the opening of the show. He marked this interest of politicians as an impetus for additional steps needed to make agriculture gradually more self-sufficient, reaching  at least 80 percent.

In the name of the Agricultural Association of the Czech Republic, the participants  were greeted by its President Martin Pýcha. He praised the Brno exhibition as an opportunity to show great achievements of Czech farmers. “Farmers today are often referred to in   negative sense, but it is not widely known that our breeders reach top parameters in international comparison. The Czech Republic ranks among the top five countries in the world as regards the performance of milking cows and also the performance of beef cattle. We have one of the best performance controls that representatives of developing countries come to learn from us. We export genetic material. Czech breeders can proudly compare with the best in the world and the results of their work are shown at this exhibition, where championships of the best animals take place. I think our farmers deserve appraisal and thanks,” emphasized Martin Pýcha.

The co-organizer of the National Show of Livestock is the Czech-Moravian Union of Breeders, which was represented at the opening by its Executive Vice-Chairman of the Board Josef Kučera. In the beginning  he praised the venue and stated that Hall P could be compared to   the ambiance of the world's best shows. “If we went to Hanover or Paris, we might not find the conditions that the Brno Exhibition Centre offers for animals. This clearly demonstrates the fact that the Czech Republic is at the very top as regards animal husbandry and breeding,” declared Josef Kučera and boasted the economic results achieved in this sector: “Czech farmers have been exporting breeding material in the last three years   worth on average 800 million crowns a year." At the same time he thanked the breeders for the careful preparation of their animals for the show, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Trade Fairs Brno for their support. “Enjoy the view of the most beautiful animals in the Czech Republic!", he wished everyone at the end.

The opening ceremony also included the awarding of prizes for the best exhibits. The evaluation committee decided to award six ANIMAL TECH 2019 Gold Medals and seven new prizes in the Smart Farming category. Traditionally,  three editorial board prizes were handed out by Profi Press, pusblishers of specialist magazines and publications.