AGRIBEX 2004

Report by Henry Lewis MLC

For the first time there was a British presence at the biennial International Agribex exhibition in Brussels from 10 to 15 February 2004. This was thanks to IATC support. It was held at the Brussels Expo Centre (Heizel), (now showing signs of its age, dating back to the World Fair in 1956). The stand was coordinated by the British Livestock Genetics Consortium with Holstein UK.

This major international event covers farm equipment and machinery, service industries and livestock. Machinery exhibitors were a major part of the event. There were classes and demonstration pens for sheep and pigs and the Friday 13th was the day for sheep and pig judging competitions. Show animals for the latter were held in crates and the show sheep were tied up. Of these, Hampshire Downs, Suffolks and Texels predominated but others such as Bleu de Maine and Ile de France also featured. Pigs included the white breeds (Large White and Landrace) and Pietrain. No pig breeding companies participated but there was considerable interest in the British sheep and pig breed posters on the stand and a supply of BPA ‘Modern pig breeding’ leaflets was taken very rapidly.

Horses featured in events on the Wednesday 11th (competitions and demonstrations) and draft horses on Sunday 15th.

The beef cattle focus was understandably on the Belgian Blue (National Show on the Tuesday 10th). There were also representations of Blonde d’Aquitaine, Charolais and Limousin cattle, with their competitions on the Wednesday 11th. British Belgium Blue cattle society representatives participated.

Red and White dairy cattle also featured on the Wednesday 11th and British Ayrshire Cattle Society representatives also participated. The climax of the week was the ‘All European Holstein Championship’ on the Saturday 14th. Member countries (eg. Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland, Spain etc) participated, each with demonstration groups of 10 cows. The Irish investment (reportedly E30,000 to fly the cattle in) paid off with them winning the team and individual competitions. There were non-commercial shell stands for the members and the British presence was under this arrangement. Commercial stands would cost much more.

All the major European and North American cattle breeding organisations had stands there. (A representative of the USLGE [the BLG equivalent] said this was the most important European event that they attended.) ABS (Genus) had their own stand, Cogent operated from the British stand.

The profile of the week’s activities in the way that the daily focus moved through different breeds and species made it very ‘user friendly’.

Those working the show and using the stand included:

British Blue Cattle Society – Chief Executive, Chairman and some 12 breeders.

Ayrshire Cattle Society – Chief Executive, Chairman and breeders

Cogent - International Director and three from their European team.

Holstein UK – President, Chairman, Marketing, PR and Breed Development officers and breeders.

MLC – Export Manager

BLG - Executive Manager

Conclusion
Good international contacts were made and business leads established from as far afield as Mexico. British attendees acknowledged the valuable role of BLG in coordinating the platform for British organisations to operate from and the value in their participation, feeling that ‘the time is now’ for a marketing effort for British livestock genetics.

Nevertheless there is considerable frustration that our European competitors are able to trade and export breeding cattle whilst the UK is denied this opportunity. A keen demand is anticipated when the barriers come down because of the quality and range of our cattle, but as a potential threat to them, spoiling tactics from other countries might be anticipated. (It was learned subsequently at SIA that some EU countries have been having such a good run on exports to Central Europe and the Mediterranean basin that they are ‘sold out’.)

One of the reasons for attendance was to assess this event as a venue for promoting British cattle (beef and diary breeds) at the next edition in 2006, assuming that we will then be able to export them once again. The answer to this is a definite yes.

The support of IATC is greatly appreciated.

Henry Lewis
MLC
26th February 2004