Agri Shows - are we seeing the end??

Do you prefer big agri shows or smaller manufacturer supported dealer open days?

  • Big Shows

  • Dealer shows/Demos


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Mark Hatton

Staff Member
Media
Location
Yorkshire
I've attended two excellent dealer events over the last couple of days, both incredibly well supported by manufactures, with strong customer attendance and very positive feedback at both events.

My question is would you prefer local dealer events, be it open days or working demos, supported by manufacturers, over the bigger shows?
 

Lincs Lass

Member
Location
north lincs
Lincolnshire show turned into a local dealer event 5-6 years ago ,,the cost of transport and the show fees hit hard on small companies .
There used to be displays of ag machinery from all over the country but they stopped comming ,.
If it does get going again with crouds ,its a nice day out ,,even if its just for the tat tents .
Farmstar have been holding their own open days at branches and working displays at the Marr depot
 

Martin Holden

Member
Trade
Location
Cheltenham
Dealer events are no doubt growing in popularity but one downside is that the brand range is limited to the specific products that the individual dealer represents. Many brands value the more regional/national show in order to “fly their flag” Having a voice and image requires some physical evidence. The internet and social media platforms are only a “part” of the marketing mix
 
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Wolds Beef

Member
Cereals did not help the Lincolnshire show!! But how do we sell our Pedigree Livestock if there is no show? I always considered it a shop window for our stock and used to spend quite some time in the lines 'selling' our stock be it cattle or sheep. Lincoln red's and Suffolk's
It is also a good talking shop as well.
WB
 

PSQ

Member
Arable Farmer
Big shows get my vote, but I don’t have the patience to look at anything other than the machinery and manufacturers that I’ve already planned to look at.
That said, I have walked past some stands and had my head unexpectedly turned, Broughan and Cross Engineering who weren’t on my radar but are now, because they put the effort in to going round the shows.
 

7610 super q

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
Haven't been to any shows for years.
Not really livestock minded, so no interest in the showing sections.
Not really interested in buying old tat from the old tat stalls.
Looking at £100k tractors/ £300k combines / £20k hedge cutters just rubs salt into the wounds.

Rather just trawl round the dealers looking to see what's in the nettles. :)
 

vantage

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Pembs
Haven't been to any shows for years.
Not really livestock minded, so no interest in the showing sections.
Not really interested in buying old tat from the old tat stalls.
Looking at £100k tractors/ £300k combines / £20k hedge cutters just rubs salt into the wounds.

Rather just trawl round the dealers looking to see what's in the nettles. :)
You mean you don’t enter anything in the Handycraft section at Pembrokeshire Show?!:p
 

Zedlock

Member
Trade
Speaking as an exhibitor we enjoy the shows and see it as an opportunity to engage with new and existing customers. We find the Midlands Machinery Show very good - it's reasonable to exhibit and is a good mix of large and small exhibitors.
The other bonus of shows when you are offering a slightly different product (such as the recycled plastic fencing) is that people get a chance to see the product in the flesh, and don't just dismiss it ('cos Dave knew a bloke in Hereford a few years back who tried plastic posts and they were dead bendy).
Agri Expo is also a good one.
 

Exfarmer

Member
Location
Bury St Edmunds
Their demise is a terrible shame as they area huge advert for farming apart from being a a place for farmers to see super new shiny or hairy things.
Jo public loves a day out in the sun shine which is not super expensive for the family.
However somewhere way back, we lost our way, suddenly all shows had to become settled on one site with hard paving, and often semi permanent facilities.
Suddenly parking became a tenner, entry became £25 and certain greedy corporates had swallowed the business and encouraged the cheap tatt tents across the ground until it all became a glorified Sunday market with a few cattle sheep etc locked up out of site behind the horse arena , for safety sake. Then the machinery distributors were treated as the golden goose and charged as if it was Stoneleigh, Paris or agritechnica , trying to purveytheir goods to 17 farmers, 2 dogs and a small army of young boys 😂
There are a few small shows run by bands of willing volunteers, and these do tremendous good work promoting farming, it is a pity this old model could not be upgraded to larger displays, but forst we would ned willing farmers to allow such a thing on a large area of grass near large towns, with little hope of vast returns. It could be done.
 

Ali_Maxxum

Member
Location
Chepstow, Wales
We bought our latest tractor thanks to a proper dealer/demo day. Get to speak to your salesmen and actual technical blokes that know exactly what they're on about. Then you get to have a go, set up an on farm demo, job done, sold.

The big shows are a good day out don't get me wrong, but I honestly can't think that we've ever bought anything significant as a result of going to one.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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