BIOMASS
7.-11.4. 2024

The complex of agricultural and forestry fairs held in Brno confirmed its position as trade fair event of a European scale. Exhibitors occupied the entire area of the Brno Exhibition Centre, green spaces, parking lots and galleries of the halls were also used; a provisional assembled Hall K with an additional area of 5 thousand square meters was built. The number of foreign exhibitors and presented brands increased, among which none of the world's leading manufacturers of agricultural equipment was missing. Thanks to the concept of the supporting programme with a focus on specialized topics, we managed to increase the proportion of trade visitors. In five days, 110,000 visitors passed through the gates of the Brno Exhibition Centre; similarly as in previous years, the biggest rush was recorded on Sunday.

The complex of agricultural and forestry fairs held in Brno was the largest of its kind in Europe this year. The number of exhibitors reached almost eight hundred; 166 of them came from 40 foreign countries. A total of 1,125 brands were represented at the displays. The main topic of this year was precision agriculture, i.e. the use of new technologies in agricultural production.

Visitors also came in as participants of package tours, mainly from the Czech Republic and Slovakia; the most represented of other countries was Austria.

As part of the opening ceremony, results were announced of the competition GRAND PRIX TECHAGRO 2016; exhibitors had entered a total of 66 exhibits, 9 of which received awards. In other competitions (GRAND PRIX SILVA REGINA 2016, GRAND PRIX ANIMAL VETEX 2016 and GRAND PRIX BIOMASS 2016) 4 exhibits were awarded. Almost one hundred exhibits had been entered in the competitions.

As part of the supporting programme of the ANIMAL VETEX fair, the Central European Veterinary Congress was held, attended by domestic and international veterinary experts.

For all five days, the Exhibition Centre hosted an extensive supporting programme focused on agricultural and forestry professionals. Among the most significant events in the supporting programme ought to be mentioned the Assembly of the Agrarian Chamber of the Czech Republic, the Agrofert Forum, the Round Table of the Czech Republic and the Eurasian Economic Union focusing on fish farming and aquaculture, a workshop for start-up farmers, programmes related to EU funds and support for small- and medium-sized enterprises, shows and competitions of STIHL® TIMBERSPORTS®, programmes concentrating on the consequences of climate change for both farmers and foresters. The supporting programme of BIOMASS focused on the use of wood mass energy and demonstrations of equipment for biomass processing. Visitors to the ANIMAL VETEX fair could see commented shows of cattle, sheep, pigs and goats. The Gallery of Hall C was occupied by the Great Exhibition of Beekeeping.

Press

Over the first four days of the fairs, 262 media representatives from nine countries accredited themselves at the Press Centre. Foreign journalists were 41 – from Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Poland, Germany, Sweden and the UK.

The next agricultural and forestry fairs are scheduled to take place in the spring of 2018.

What was said about the fairs

Marian Jurečka, Minister of Agriculture of the Czech Republic
TECHAGRO shows the very best the Czech Republic may offer Central Europe and the world in the field of agricultural equipment and technologies as well as what Europe can offer the Czech farmers. We meet here at a time when the situation in Czech agriculture is not really easy considering last year‘s drought and some of the commodities. Nevertheless, I do believe that together we can handle the situation well, the Czech Republic does not turn its back on the Czech farmers, we will manage to propose measures that will help our farmers overcome the difficult period and that this will also be assisted by the four trade fairs TECHAGRO, SILVA REGINA, ANIMAL VETEX and BIOMASS which over a whole spectrum of the agrarian sector.

 Milan Štěch, President of the Senate of the Czech Republic Parliament
This year’s fair is gigantic as to the number of exhibits and exhibitors and almost matches the International Engineering Fair. This highlights one aspect. Although our agriculture and forestry make up for just per cents of GDP, it is obvious that the contribution and importance of these sectors is much, much bigger. I think we all realise the importance of agriculture to feed our inhabitants, the safety aspects as well as the issue of landscaping and environmental protection. We have overcame the transformation period relatively  and I am convinced that this sector is presently doing well thanks to the work of all of you, good management and sensitive approach to soil, forests and the environment.

SILVA REGINA is a beautiful exhibition and shows that the Czech Republic has the environment at the very heart. I am glad that we have such well-functioning organisations that care about the nature. And it is good that there are foreign guests here who see that the Czech Republic is a well developed country in this field.

Miroslav Toman, President of the Agrarian Chamber of the Czech Republic
I am very glad that the Agrarian Chamber can be a partner of these four fairs and I believe that we will continue meeting here in the future. Currently, agriculture finds itself in a difficult situation and I perceive very positively that the minister shares this view. I believe that the Czech agriculture will get help in the future from the Rural Development Programme, national subsidies as well as from all of you who supply machinery and equipment for agriculture because nothing would work so well without them. Czech agriculture is competitive and will not get lost in Europe in the future.

 Patrik Mlynář, Vice Minister of Agriculture in charge of forestry management section
What I enjoyed at the SILVA REGINA was not only the beautiful stands but also the presence of many young people who are interested in our field. It is good that this fair promotes forestry and game keeping in the Czech Republic. I think that we have all rights to be proud of Czech foresters and game keepers.

 Martin Pýcha, Chairman of the Agricultural Association of the Czech Republic
Every time I say here that this edition is record-breaking, and this year is yet another record-breaking year," emphasised Martin Pýcha adding that not only the number of 777 exhibitors is record-breaking, but also 40 represented countries has broken the existing record. "I am particularly pleased to see that the fair shows to the public that agriculture can not be perceived as three percent of workforce it employs, and the share in the GDP, but in relation to other sectors. The participation of exhibitors and visitors goes to show how important agriculture is for the Czech Republic.

 Bohumil Belada, Managing Director and Chairman of the Board of Directors of FARMTEC a. s., vice president of the Agrarian Chamber of the Czech Republic
TECHAGRO is by far the most important exhibition in our branch of industry, a professional event where you come with a clear aim to see agricultural machinery. Moreover, it has an impact outside the Czech Republic, in the markets of Slovakia, Russia, Hungary and Poland. It is a truly international exhibition, not only in terms of exhibitors, but also from the point of view of visitors. The footfall at our stand was standard, but what is more important than the number is what people come and if they want to invest. For me, the positive message taken from TECHAGRO is that Czech farmers do not throw in the towel and keep preparing investments and projects.

 Adam Žert, sales and marketing manager in ZETOR TRACTORS a.s.
TECHAGRO is our home ground, so we are here practically every time. This year we focused our exhibition on showing a bit more from our “kitchen”. For us, there are three main reasons to participate. The domestic market is very important for us and here we approach Czech and Slovak customers. At the same time, we come here as there is quite a high number of visitors from abroad coming to see us since the Brno fair has a dominant position in Central Europe. The third reason is that we want to present ourselves here as a prospective employer. Our stand at Hall P is always crowded.

 Jiří Sopoušek, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of STROM PRAHA a. s.
We come to TECHAGRO each time, we meet our customers here and introduce to them our products, not only the John Deer brand, but our entire product range. Here we can exchange views with our clients and find out what technology they need, which gives us important feedback. We only supply our goods to the Czech market, but our colleagues from other countries come here and we provide them with space in our stand to serve their customers. As regards business, it is assumed that the agricultural machinery market will slightly drop this year, which is primarily due to the commodity market situation - cereals, milk and pork markets. However, as a rule we are satisfied with our participation at the fair , we are visited by our customers come and we can talk to them in an informal atmosphere.

 Pavel Kouřil, representative of Maschinenfabrik Bernard KRONE for the Czech Republic and SR
I like this year's TECHAGRO. Our stand at Hall P is a real success, it is really beautiful, and I must also praise services provided by BVV Trade Fairs Brno. The visit rate is good, maybe a little lower than last time, but all the more professional. We are visited by people we want to approach and meetings are short and concise. And we also do business, just yesterday we signed a contract here.

 Martin Kořízek, Marketing Director of Farmet a. s.
We export to thirty countries and the Czech market is important for us as our domestic market; however, it only makes up about one fifth of our sales. As we are a Czech-based company, we want to be here to approach domestic customers, but we also consider TECHAGRO as an international trade fair and therefore it is important for us to be present in a prestigious location and have a premium exhibition stand. I see this year's TECHAGRO as successful, the footfall was good and of a high quality, which is more important than quantity. We are satisfied with our stand and its location, Hall P is attractive and airy and a lot of visitors come here.  People just pour in and we have meetings all the time, our tables are almost always busy and we arrange specific deliveries.

 Ladislav Vybíral, Executive in CROY s. r. o.
We represent Mercedes-Benz in the category of special vehicles and along with new products we offer very attractive combinations also for farmers and therefore we returned to TECHAGRO after about 15 years. We address not only farmers, but also foresters and all those who work in the countryside and have something to do with it. We like Hall K, the visit rate is high and we believe that our vehicles will find their customers here.

 Vladimír Opatřil, Executive in AGROVO CZ s. r. o.
Every time we come our exhibition stand increases in size so that we can present as much as possible from our range to the visitors. We approach farmers as well as end customers from the Czech and Slovak Republic here. It is hard for us to bring all 36 models we offer and therefore we have made some sales statistics from the last two editions and have brought only the most interesting one that are in greatest demand. We exhibit a total of six exhibits, including three new models.

 Martin Roh, Director of MULTOS s. r. o.
In the past, we attended TECHAGRO on a regular basis as exhibitors  but were not here during the previous two editions. This year we were attracted by the offer to exhibit in a prefabricated hall located in a good place on the main route. The footfall is good and we are satisfied.

 Oto Lasák, director of Nakladatelství a vydavatelství Lesnická práce, s.r.o.
As regards exhibitors and visitors, this year's SILVA REGINA was very successful. Exhibitors managed to introduce the largest number of innovations ever in the fourteen-year history of the fair. We stroke a number of deals right at the fair. The rich supporting programme provided at Hall Z was and apt complement to the forestry atmosphere.

Foresters – coming indeed from the whole country - exhibitors – included new representatives of church-kept forests. The highest number of visitors from abroad came from neighbouring Slovakia who speak very highly about the standard of the SILVA REGINA fair and who will certainly return next time. The Brno Exhibition Centre is running out of space for these four fairs.

Petr Šereda, sales, REPAROSERVIS spol. s r. o.
We present ourselves regularly at the SILVA REGINA fair. Forestry is a relatively specific field and we need to be here for our customers. And since we are proud of what we do, we always bring it here and we want to show it, which establishes our good reputation. This year's Grand Prix has obviously made us happy.  I think that the footfall gets better and better each time even though most people who come here have agricultural background and people with background in forestry who come here are usually familiar to us. We are satisfied here.

 Jan Marek, Sales Manager in Mikov s. r. o.
We come to SILVA REGINA on a regular basis, we always make ourselves visible here and our products are in demand all the time. Lots of customers keep coming back and are happy to see that we come up with innovations such as the Patron knife winning the Grand Prix in 2016 which is a great honour for us. We are satisfied with the footfall and interest in our products this year.

 Jiří Mašek, Chairman of the Evaluation Committee of the Grand Prix contest
I have been coming to the TECHAGRO fair regularly since 1994, I follow the Grand Prix contest and I have always wondered which exhibits will be awarded. This year, a total of 100 exhibits were entered, the international 15-member jury selected 59 nominations and of these 13 were awarded. I firmly believe that each award, be it nomination or Grand Prix award, will contribute to increased sales.

 Ivan Olšan, Executive in AGRIO MZS s.r.o.
We are very pleased that the Grand Prix Committee awarded our exhibit. It is the first Czech self-propelled sprayer with a hydrostatic drive. After 23 years of the company’s development from scratch, this is the highlight of a certain stage. During the three exhibition days, we were visited by a lot of customers and foreign traders, for example from Hungary and Mongolia. We also entered into specific contracts or handshakes meaning  "we take it" and therefore this has been our most successful fair in years.

 Václav Baštýř, Marketing and Communication Department, GARNEA a.s.
We exhibit our complete portfolio of the DEUTZ-FAHR brand here. The only thing missing here is a harvester as there was no vacant space left for it. We have won the Grand Prix for innovation, the front axle EUTH-FAHR Agroplus 320. We were in raptures over the award because DEUTZ-FAHR received no award for a long time in Brno.

 Václav Jirka, Sales Manager, Leading Farmers CZ, a.s.
TECHAGRO is a traditional fair which we have attended since the formation of the company, which will be in existence 15 years this year. It is the most prestigious fair in the Czech Republic focusing on agriculture. We appreciate that it is attended by people who are interested, and when they come to our stand they really want to learn something.

 Tomáš Mayer, Sales Manager, YARA Agra Czech Republic s.r.o.
In Brno, we present new products for the Czech market in the field of industrial fertilisers. Regarding services to farmers and new technologies, our new products have the form of three basic applications for mobile phones and tablets. During the first three days our stand was visited by a number of agronomists. For example, we discussed the possible applications of foliar fertilisers and technological assistance in determining nitrogen doses in wheat. We agree on sales or presentation of our products directly at our customers’ so we still have something to work on together.

 Petr Pawlica, Executive, PAWLICA s.r.o.
Our stand will introduce a revolutionary solution – a sorter using NIT technology to sort out wheat or barley grains according to their quality. Meetings with experts are the main reason why we are here at the fair. And we are also pleased by the interest from abroad - from Poland, Slovakia, and even our clients from Slovenia arrived. I appreciate that they are here at the exhibition which is close to them and has a good standard. "

 Stanislav Václavek, specialist sponsor of the BIOMASS fair supporting programme
For the third edition of the renewable energies in agriculture and forestry fair, BIOMASS, we have prepared a series of lectures. Today they will focus a lot on boiler subsidies. We want to offer a complete service to people who are interested in how the first call and what is in the pipeline, and what to focus on when making the purchase and the technical properties of wood-fuelled boilers in achieved over recent years.

 Václav Chaloupek, director and script writer
I am mainly interested in Hall Z, the SILVA REGINA fair. It is unbelievable how many people are here. All I can do is to admire in silence how many enthusiasts are interested in lawn mowing, forklifts and many other things. I was last here six years ago and this shows the progress the fair has made since.