BIOMASS
8.-12.4. 2018

TECHAGRO 2018 SHOWED THE FUTURE OF AGRICULTURE

The TECHAGRO, SILVA REGINA and BIOMASS fairs were the largest European event in 2018 in the sector of agricultural and forestry machinery. The TECHAGRO fair focused on plant production and sustainable farming in the time of climate change. The SOIL WATER RETENTION FRIENDLY prize was newly awarded to exhibits that support water retention in soil.

The Brno agricultural and forestry fairs completely sold out the area of the Brno Exhibition Centre, and a modular provisional Hall K was built again. Within five days, over 112 thousand visitors from the Czech Republic and from neighbouring countries passed through the gates of the Brno Exhibition Centre.

The sideline programme was mainly focused on professional visitors. It included, for example, a conference named The Future of Czech Agriculture, a beekeeping exhibition or an exhibition depicting 100 years of forestry and hunting in Czechoslovakia.

The motto of the SILVA REGINA 2018 fair was "Protection of Forest through Its Economic Use", while the BIOMASS trade fair offered visitors mainly technology for energy processing of timber and processing of forest biomass.

TECHAGRO, SILVA REGINA and BIOMASS 2018

• 750 exhibitors from 37 countries
• 1 174 represented brands
• 88 189 m2 of exhibition area
• 112 646 visitors from 39 countries
• 209 journalists

What was said about the fairs

Jiří Milek
Minister of Agriculture of the Czech Republic
The TECHAGRO, SILVA REGINA and BIOMASS fairs have gained an excellent name during their existence, and nowadays they it can be said without exaggeration that they are the third largest trade fairs of agricultural technology and equipment within the European Union. In this country, these fairs are organized precisely because our agriculture and forestry are at a high level. In using state-of-the-art technology and equipment we are one of the world's leaders, and at the same time we are also leading manufacturers and exporters of agricultural machinery. I believe that farmers will find a broad range of quality machines at good prices and on acceptable instalment terms and that the participation of each exhibitor and visitor to the fair will be beneficial to all parties and will contribute to further development and modernisation of Czech agriculture.

Petr Vokřál
Mayor of Brno and member of the Board of Directors, Trade Fairs Brno
The TECHAGRO trade fair shows what an important segment agriculture is. After years when many people asked whether agriculture had any meaning in the Czech Republic, this event is the best answer. The number of exhibitors is breaking records and there are so many visitors that they literally jammed the arrival routes to Brno and the whole exhibition centre, which really made me happy.

Martin Pýcha
Chairman of the Agricultural Association
This year, there are a record-breaking number of exhibitors and I am curious about where it will go further, how you will inflate the exhibition grounds and also Brno in terms of parking spaces. I am very glad that this year's TECHAGRO is focusing on the future. We are showing here that Czech agriculture is modern, and when I walk through the exhibition grounds, it fills me with pride. The interest not only on the side of Czech manufacturers of agricultural equipment, but also on the side of foreign exhibitors, leads to the fact that Czech agriculture is successful and very good.

Jiří Mašek
Dean of the Technical Faculty of the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, Chairman of the Grand Prix TECHAGRO, Silva Regina and BIOMASS 2018 evaluation jury
The jury has had an unfortunate role to choose from 91 participating exhibits those worthy of appreciation. Industry 4.0 has flipped into agriculture as well; hence we now have Agriculture 4.0 and Smart Technologies here. I firmly believe that these technologies and machinery will bring young people to agriculture, where they are really missing, and at the same time enable us to produce sufficiency of food for us and for those who perhaps cannot grow it by themselves.

Owusu Afriyie Akoto
Minister of Agriculture of Ghana
My visit to the fair assured me that people in Czechia and Ghana have common goals, and that there is room for cooperation and investment in Ghana's agriculture. Ghana is a world player in cocoa production, but there are opportunities in other commodities as well, such as growing vegetables; we also need technology for crop harvesting, packaging, etc. That is why we are promoting opportunities for the private sector here and inviting Czech companies to invest in Ghana. We also talked to the Czech Minister of Agriculture about cooperation in the field of education. I am in Brno for the first time and the city exceeded my expectations, although I had heard a lot about it from our diplomats. I believe I will come back here not only as a minister, but also as a tourist.

Martin Rada
Chief Executive Officer, Agrotec Group
Agrotec was present at all seasons of the TECHAGRO trade fairs and we see how the relationship has developed – both with the exhibition centre and with the visitors. Nowadays I think we are a good partner of the exhibition centre and the exhibition centre is a good partner for us. We see how many people visit us here and with what interest they come in, it is simply a breakthrough event once in every two years. Customers come to see new products and what is important – they want to compare the equipment, and they can even compare the teams that work on the stands. I am glad that customers are present, that they are coming back to see us and still new customers are coming in, too. I believe that we have strengthened our relationships and established new ones.

Pavel Lorek
product manager, KUBOTA
Our company is launching the sale of suspension technology on agricultural tractors this year and introduces new L1 and L2, B1, B2 municipal tractors; hence TECHAGRO gives us an opportunity to show these new products to our customers. A lot of people came to our stand and to the fair overall; this trade fair is the largest event at the Brno exhibition centre Centre, so there is nothing to be ashamed of compared to similar trade fairs in France or Germany. Even the weather was good, so what else could we wish for?

Michaela Šafářová
Sales Agent, Agrotechnika Vaněk
We are one of the leading vendors of agricultural and forestry machinery in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, so we introduce ourselves at the Brno trade fair on two locations with various products, including a complete novelty – a forest extension for the Farmtrac tractor. After four days we can already say that we are happy because a lot of people have visited this trade fair, and at our "forest" display, visitors are rolling in and out every day from the morning till the evening.

Tomáš Svoboda
Shop Manager, STV ARMS
Participation in SILVA REGINA is important for us in terms of addressing future customers, otherwise we would not have come here. Especially on the first day came a lot of people who were interested in our whole range of products – weapons, ammunition, optics, accessories, and great attention was paid to the Finnish SAKO and TIKKA rifles.

Karel Dvořák
Head of Forest Equipment Division, Hořické strojírny
We are satisfied with our participation in the fair. We find out about the reactions of our visitors to our new product - a new semi-trailer model that is designed to ride in the woods along narrow roads, and after leaving the forest, it can be rearranged to a configuration that is more suitable for driving along asphalt roads. We are glad that customers are coming to our stand after two years again, we are happy to meet them here and get their suggestions for improvement.

Alena Hůrová
Business Director, MOUDER
Given these trade fairs also focus on biomass, we decided to bring to Brno a German crushing and pressing machinery and also, as a curiosity, a press and crusher for polystyrene. We represent seven German brands on this market and we are glad that our foreign partners are in Brno with us and that TECHAGRO is viewed as a fair of European significance. We are very happy with the number of visitors, which has been rising steadily from one season to another.

Petr Cankař
Technical Director, ATMOS
At this trade fair, we meet people who are close to timber. That is why we are introducing here primarily the most modern wood gasifying boilers that meet all the conditions of the boiler subsidy programme. We exhibit here regularly and I dare say that this is the best trade fair at the Brno COMMENTS ON THE TRADE FAIR exhibition centre Centre, at least in terms of the number of visitors. It is an important presentation for us from the point of view of end customers.

Jan Dušák
Representative for the Czech Republic, SILOKING – Mayer Maschinenbau GmbH
TECHAGRO brings a great benefit to us. It offers us new business opportunities. It is the best way to present our products to the public. The exhibition has a very good level and it is very highly rated abroad as well. It is a respected exhibition.

Jindřich Sinkule sr.
Co-owner of PetroJet Trade s.r.o
We were pleased to be able to present our MultiBio brand at TECHAGRO. The exhibition is greatly organized, and its visitors are our target group of customers. We are completely satisfied with the results of the demand for our products here at the exhibition.

Tomáš Kopa
Chairman of the Board of Directors, AGRI MACHINES SE
As a young company we are exhibiting here for the first time, but we have a great display and brought in a lot of news. We are satisfied both with the fair and with our location in the modular hall because there are incredible numbers of people coming in here. From the point of view of our business, we are doing well, and hence this is our first time at TECHAGRO, but certainly not the last.

Roman Jiráček
Key Account Manager Czech Republic & Slovakia, Trelleborg Praha, s. r. o. – Mitas a.s.
We exhibit regularly at the TECHAGRO trade fair, this year for the first time at a joint stand with the Mitas brand, because we are members of the same group. For us, this trade fair is mainly about the strengthening of relationships with customers, who come here in large numbers every year. Motor shows are dwindling, but TECHAGRO is growing or at least keeping its level steadily. We rate this year's season of the fair positively and we will definitely come back here again in two years' time.

Vladimír Opatřil
Managing Director at AGROVO CZ s. r. o. (WIELTON – AGRO brand)
We are sold out until the end of August, and that is why we see this year's TECHAGRO definitely well. We have sold virtually all the machines that were on display, we have made about 40 contracts here. Two years ago it was similar, so we are really satisfied with this fair.

Marie Škotová
independent administrator, Marie Škotová, FERTISTAV CZ a.s.
We were afraid that fewer visitors would arrive this year because the spring has begun late and the farmers now have to catch up on the jobs they did not get done because of the weather. But the opposite is true, participation is ultimately unbelievable. Most people came in on Sunday and Tuesday. For our company, this fair was really beneficial, we consider this season very successful.

Gabriel Zborovjan
SKH AGRO, s.r.o. (Slovakia), Representative of the Hungarian companies AJG and Optigép
Hungarian companies do not go to the TECHAGRO trade fair just because of Czech customers; in fact, Brno is actually a small Hannover and the goal is also to hit visitors from other markets. We have been coming back here since 2004, now it is the eighth joint participation of Hungarian companies, which I think speaks for itself. Our exhibitors are satisfied with this trade fair.