World's largest farm machinery show Agritechnica cancelled
Agritechnica, Hannover. Ficture: Swen Pförtner/Agritechnica
The world's largest agricultural machinery exhibition, Agritechnica, has been cancelled until 2023.
The show, which takes place in Hanover, Germany, was originally scheduled for November 2021, but postponed to February 27 to March 5, 2022, because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, this morning organisers DLG, said that "due to the deteriorating pandemic situation and the current official regulations", the exhibition would no longer take place.Â
"The conditions for hosting a world-leading agricultural machinery exhibition are no longer fulfilled," a spokesperson said.
The next Agritechnica will now take place from November 12 to 18, 2023, marking a return to the show's traditional spot on the calendar.
Making the announcement, Dr Reinhard Grandke, chief executive of DLG, acknowledged that many of the show's exhibitors, partners, visitors and members had already invested in extensive preparations ahead the event.
"In view of the current national and global developments in conjunction with the corona pandemic, the rapidly rising number of cases worldwide and the related restrictions on travel, as well as official regulations, the DLG (German Agricultural Society) as organiser, the VDMA Agricultural Machinery Association and Agritechnica’s exhibitor advisory board have jointly concluded that the conditions required for hosting the world’s leading agricultural machinery exhibition are no longer fulfilled," Dr Grandke said.
Dr Bernd Scherer, managing director of VDMA Agricultural Machinery Association said that the show came at a time when innovation has never been more important for agriculture.
"Professional exchange, networking and innovations should have been the focus and delivered the necessary [concepts] for sustainable agriculture," he said.
"We all deeply regret that Agritechnica 2022 cannot take place after all - on the one hand, because the entire industry was already looking forward to its 'leading trade fair' with great anticipation, and on the other hand, because farmers currently stand to benefit from the numerous agricultural machinery innovation [concepts] in a way rarely seen before.Â
"We, as agricultural machinery experts, therefore, stand by our world-leading trade fair and are already looking forward to a successful restart of Agritechnica in Hanover in 2023."
Freya von Czettritz, Agritechnica project manager, said the decision was particularly difficult since many companies had specifically targeted the trade fair to present their innovations.
“Even though Agritechnica cannot take place in Hanover next year as planned, it remains an opportunity to focus on the innovations in the agricultural machinery industry," she said.
"That is why we have announced the winners of the leading innovation award for international agricultural machinery, as planned. Our thanks go to the DLG Innovation Commission, which awarded one gold and 16 silver medals for exceptional innovations. DLG will officially present the winners’ awards next year."
Organisers have said they will continue to run the digital complement to Agritechnica, which was launched in November 2021, until the end of March 2022.
