| Forestry
Forestry Show has much to interest farmers
APF 2018 is the UK ’ s largest forestry , woodland , trees and timber show . Taking place at Ragley Estate , Alcester , Warwickshire on the 20 / 21 / 22 September , the 22nd staging of the show will attract 320 exhibitors and over 22 000 visitors .
I t will feature over 2 ½ miles and £ 50 million of working machinery . Much of the equipment is designed for smaller woodlands and adding value to even single trees on the farm . Exhibitors will be demonstrating firewood processing equipment , mobile sawmilling machines , biomass boilers and woodchippers to produce the chips to fuel them .
Exhibition Secretary , Ian Millward commented “ In recent years we have moved to embrace the farming sector and recognise that many farms have small woodlands or even single trees and that these need to contribute to farm incomes . Whilst not necessarily being huge areas they can still make an important contribution to farm budgets . Probably the greater proportion of our exhibitors have equipment designed for small scale use . One of the key features of the show is that machines can be seen working under realistic conditions and practically every manufacturer is represented so you can compare machines side by side and see if they live up to what the brochures claim . Visitors can see how a single tree can be turned into useful timber whether that is fence posts or cladding for a building . Small quantities of timber can be turned into firewood easily and quickly with the latest generation of firewood processors and low quality timber that might once have been thought as useless can be turned into woodchips to fuel a biomass boiler ”
There will be a large , dedicated area called ‘ Fencing In The 21st Century ’ where the very latest in equipment , machinery , tools , techniques and materials can be seen in action with a daily programme of displays . Visitors will be able to watch and ask questions of manufacturers as the state of the art equipment is shown working , including all terrain post drivers , battery powered staple guns , hand held post drivers , lightweight electric fencing and
www . farmingmonthly . co . uk much more .
At 1pm each day will see the Fast Fencer competition , sponsored by McVeigh Parker , where experienced fencing contractors can enter and go head to head to see who can erect 25m of stock fencing in the quickest time for some great prizes .
In addition to the fencing arena visitors will be able to see all the major fencing machinery and material suppliers including McVeigh Parker , Hampton Steel , Bryce Suma , Protech , WRAG and Fencing News .
The Forestry Commission will be on hand to give advice on grant aid , felling licences , planting grants and woodland management grants . If there is anything you need to know about trees , timber and woodlands you can find the answers at APF 2018 .
There will a series of topical seminars to bring you up to date with current research and news on the latest plant health , pest and disease news .
The Forestry Industry Safety Accord and Lantra will be running practical safety and training demos throughout the three days on a range of subjects including tree felling and giving advice on all training issues you might have .
When you want a rest you can relax and watch The Husqvarna World 25m pole climbing championships and the A W Jenkinson and Tilhill Forestry European Chainsaw carving competitions , with Europes top 25 carvers in action .
Stihl Timbersports return this year and there will be three daily exciting displays using traditional axes and cross cut saws as well as the famous hot saw with its chain speed of over 240 km / hour as the UK Team warm up for the World Championships being held in Liverpool later this year . The Komatsu UK Forwarder Driving Competition will again test the UK ’ s best operators in a new , challenging woodland course and the very popular woodland crafts area with a huge range of rarely seen crafts on display from charcoal to coracles , including a wheel wright for the first time and the fast and furious world log to leg pole lathe turning championships . If you have always fancied trying your hand at one of these traditional crafts come along and have a go as most of the crafts people will be delighted to show you the ropes .
When you want to relax and enjoy a wellearned pint or lunch with old friends and colleagues there is plenty of space for a sit down . Both the main catering areas will have large covered seating areas in case the weather turns inclement and both of these areas will have free Wi-Fi available to enable you to catch up with work emails . The catering area near the woodland crafts area will have a range of artisan produced food including squirrel pie !. This really is the forestry , tree and timber event of the year and should not be missed .
Tickets will be available on the gate priced £ 22 but if you want to save money then book online via the website . A one day ticket is just £ 18 , a two day ticket is even better value at £ 30 and if you are buying 10 or more tickets the price falls to just £ 16 for a one day ticket . Please note these discounted prices will not be available on the gate
There is really too much to do and see in one day so why not stay over and spend two days with us ? We have onsite camping at just £ 15 per person per night and there is a wide range of other accommodation locally to suit all budgets . The visitor section on our website has details of local accommodation . If you want to book tickets or camping you can do this online via our website .
Full details of the exhibition including a list of exhibitors booked to date are on the exhibitor section of the website . Email : info @ apfexhibition . co . uk , website : www . apfexhibition . co . uk , Tel : 01428 723545 . You can also follow APF 2018 on Facebook www . facebook . com / APFExhibition and on Twitter @ APFExhibition
August 2018 | Farming Monthly | 55