Two days of the PotatoEurope 2010 exhibition passed like one day, it seems like it's time to go home, back to Russia, but it wasn’t there. The editors of the journal "Potato System" specially for their delegation prepared an interesting rich program.
The trip to Germany was the first 'off-page' event of the Potato System magazine. We wanted to expand the scope of the publication and help our readers to see with their own eyes what they usually read on the pages of the magazine. Our initiative was fully understood by the organizers of the exhibition, our permanent partner of the German Agricultural Society. Ks magazine became the official media partner of the PotatoEurope 2010 exhibition and the organizer of a trip to the exhibition from the Russian Federation. For the second year in a row, 'The Potato System' publishes a special issue - a guide to the exhibition in Russian, which allows a large number of visitors from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and other countries of the former Soviet Union to navigate the geography of the exhibition, the diversity of its stands and companies representing their products. And it is very symbolic that the bulletin was handed to Russian-speaking visitors by Russian and Ukrainian students who are in Germany on practical training.
The exhibition 'PotatoEurope' began to be held relatively recently, since 2006, and it takes place alternately in the four 'potato' powers of the Old World: Germany, Belgium, France and Holland.
The editors of the magazine offered their readers and travelers not a very large, but very intensive program. In addition to visiting the exhibition itself. the trip participants were able to get acquainted with the activities of leading foreign companies covering almost the entire range of potato production: 'DuPont' - means for plant protection, 'Grimme' - field and storage equipment, 'Europlant' - seed material.
And I must say, the group members brilliantly withstood the intense rhythm of the trip proposed by the magazine. Judge for yourself, 40 minutes after the German educational center “Doyle” was placed in a hotel, all participants were already familiarized with the latest products of the DuPont company in the beautiful “wooden pavilion” of the “Doila”. Igor Redkozubov, Regional Sales Manager, Plant Protection Division, together with his European colleagues, spoke about the entire DuPont range of potato preparations (read about the new preparation KORAGEN ™) A pleasant surprise for all those present was the performance of the DuPont company partner, representative of the Lehler lance, Yuri Rotenberg. The company 'Lehler' is a world leader in the production of sprayers for spraying plants. At the end of the presentation, Yuri Rotenberg, on behalf of Lehler, made wonderful and, frankly, not cheap gifts for the assembled potato producers - a complete set of sprayers.
The next day, at the end of the exhibition, our group was met by the head of the eastern department of the Grimme agricultural machinery factory Alexander Schumann.
Acquaintance with one of the leaders of the world agricultural machine-building industry was, as they say, in a warm and friendly atmosphere: the owner of the enterprise, Franz Grimme, managed to find half an hour in his busy schedule and cordially greet our group at the factory. It’s very important for Mr. Grimme that technology buyers see how carefully machines have been produced that bear the name of his family for more than 150 years. An employee of the eastern department, Dmitry Guyo, conducted an interesting and informative tour throughout the plant. The bright end of the Grimme Day was affected by dinner at the same restaurant with a large German wedding. Not every bride in Germany can boast that she married to the good parting words of the leading Russian potato growers!
Despite the fact that the first point of visiting the Europlant company began on Saturday, September 11, at 8.00, at the storage capacity of 4500 tons, Europlant CEO Jörg Eggers and expert department director Thomas Bogtner were already waiting for us. A tour of the storehouse, a visit to the Europlant seed farm, and the demonstration field - all this provided an impressive impression of Europe's leading producer of seed potatoes. A large number of questions during the visit and a substantive discussion at dinner - this is what will be remembered Saturday's visit to the Europlant.
I would like to say a few more words about our partner, co-organizer of the trip - the German educational institution Doyle. The employees of this wonderful organization not only did everything possible to make the trip participants feel at home, but also managed to seriously interest our readers in their activities. The deputy director of the Doyle Practical Training Center, Bertsd Antelmann, has clearly demonstrated all the possibilities of his institution, and many members of the group are now seriously considering the possibility of sending their employees to Doyle for a week-long practical seminar.
The cultural part of the program was a visit to the cities of Hanover and Hamburg, where everyone could find something to their liking: stroll through the streets, enjoy the sights, visit the shops.
Hamburg ranks first among European cities in the number of bridges (more than 2300). There are more bridges in the city than in Venice (400), Amsterdam (1200) and London combined. The landscapes that opened up to us simply fascinated us with their beauty and special spirit of majestic antiquity. A walk through the city streets was the glorious conclusion to our weekly tour of Germany.
Of course, this is only a small part of everything that can be told, but let the rest remain “behind the scenes”, since you can’t describe everything in a small article, and emotions are more appropriate at the scene. Therefore, I want to believe that a trip to Germany will be remembered for a long time and will remain in the hearts of all 29 members of the delegation under the auspices of the journal "Potato System". And yet - we will definitely repeat something similar, but already in Belgium. See you soon!
