| Cereals
Visitors and exhibitors welcomed the far-reaching farmer-led changes at the
Cereals Event, with plenty of cutting-edge technology and advice on offer.
t was the first chance the
industry had to experience the
new-look event since it was
taken over by Comexposium
and the team that organises
SIMA in Paris, and other
agricultural shows around the world. Under the
new ownership, the organiser team consulted
extensively with exhibitor and visitor advisory
boards, resulting in a new Cereals with two new
seminar areas, innovation entrances,
Innovation Insights presentations, and cover
crop drilling demonstrations.
“We have been overwhelmed with the
positive feedback from exhibitors and visitors
alike,” said event director Jon Day. “We had
18,000 attendees over the two days, and
exhibitors were delighted with the quality of
interest, with many reporting rapid sales and
solid business leads. In fact, nearly 50% of
exhibitors have already committed to attend in
June 2019.”
The new-look Cereals attracted some of the
biggest names in the industry among the 362
exhibitors, including; Amazone, Barclays,
Bayer, HSBC, KWS, LG, New Holland, NIAB
TAG, NFU, Syngenta and Yara, plus significant
support from event content partner AHDB.
Andrew Newby, KWS managing director said
of this year’s event, “We’ve had a better quality
of visitors this year, the people I’ve spoken to
have had genuine reasons for being here.”
First time exhibitor, Pear Agri – which
launched its new farm management software -
was left very impressed with the quality of
visitors to this year’s event. “We had a large
number of very good enquiries and attending
has proved valuable to the business,” said the
firm’s John Edwards.
The event kicked off with a packed seminar
programme, with high-profile speakers in
Cereals Controversial including NFU president
Minette Batters and AHDB chairman Peter
Kendall. Over in Cereals Conversations,
industry experts explored the technical
challenges facing farmers and sought to find
solutions together.
Innovation was a strong theme this year,
following feedback from visitors, leading to the
I
www.farmingmonthly.co.uk
creation of a new Innovation Insights feature
with Agri-Tech East. “The participants in our
session showcased a diverse range of
research, technologies, products and services
and the huge buzz in the marquee showed
there is huge appetite to embrace change
through adoption of new solutions,” said Dr
Belinda Clarke, director of Agri-Tech East.
Products included robots and artificial
intelligence, bespoke weather reporting, and
technology to improve water and phosphate
efficiencies.
Helping visitors to get the most from their
days were new guided tours, one of which
included a visit to the soil pit, which was
packed with farmers seeking to understand
what’s going on beneath the surface.
Different crop options were on display from
NIAB TAG, showing how varying alternatives
affect soil health and root growth. Other Guided
Tours focused on weed control techniques,
innovation, and cereal and oilseed varieties,
with many sessions over-subscribed.
David Butler, Farmers Weekly contributor
and mixed farmer from Wiltshire, rated the
show 9/10 and was taking lots of fresh ideas
back home, including using turbo twin-jet
nozzles for better spray coverage, trialling white
lupins as a protein crop and new cereal
varieties and seed dressings.
One highlight of the day was the Hands Free
Hectare demonstration from exhibitor advisory
board member Harper Adams University, which
generated huge interest in autonomous
machinery. “We were inundated with enquiries,”
said marketing officer Sarah Swinnerton.
“Being at Cereals is hugely important for us,
not just for student recruitment but to maintain
contacts within the industry and to catch up
with our alumni. And being part of the advisory
board has been great. The flow of the site is
much better and we’re looking forward to next
year: Cereals is always an important show on
our calendar.”
Event feedback
Luke Cox (@farmerLukeCox) a young farmer
from Gloucestershire, tweeted: “Great day at
Cereals Event today, with glorious weather to
accompany informative debates from the likes
of Minette Batters and AHDB, not to mention
the numerous leaflets and booklets which will
hopefully point my new farm trading career in
the right direction.”
Samuel Clarke (@farmerSamClarke), a
sheep farmer and independent crop consultant
from Oxfordshire, tweeted: “Went to the Cereals
Event today – a good day talking mainly to
breeders on new varieties, lots of energy at the
show, which felt a lot smaller and compact,
which was not a bad thing.”
David Butler (@DavidButler34), Farmers
Weekly contributor and mixed farmer from
Wiltshire, tweeted: “Very enjoyable day at
Cereals, taking lots of fresh ideas back home.”
John Pawsey, Suffolk farmer: “It is such a
great event for meeting fellow farmers, as well
as industry partners. The only difficulty is
getting around as I kept on bumping into
people I wanted to talk to. It’s so important to
keep these events going, farming can be a
pretty lonely business and Cereals is the
highlight of the year for me.”
Angus McKirdy – CPM Magazine: “I have
been coming to Cereals for the past 25 years
and it’s as good as it ever was. It’s a unique
event and the quality of exhibitors is first class.”
Sarah Swinnerton – HAU: “Wednesday was
absolutely fantastic for us, we were inundated
with enquiries.”
Ralph Lane – Tillso: “We’ve been really
pleased, we had an excellent day with lots of
visitors. We sold our demonstrator machine by
9am on Wednesday. It’s definitely worthwhile
coming, we’ve booked for next year again.
Cereals is always a good show for us.”
Jocelyn Beaumont - Weaving Machinery:
“We’ve found Cereals to be really productive,
with a high rate of really good enquiries. We
think it’s a great show. The show is great value
for money, both as an exhibitor and hopefully
for people coming to look round the show,
purely on the basis that you’ve got so much
knowledge you can gain and so many
interesting people you can meet. Overall, we’re
really happy.”
Cereals 2019 will take place on 12th and
13th June, at Boothby Graffoe, Lincolnshire.
July 2018 | Farming Monthly | 15