Two days of the exhibition "PotatoEurope 2010" flew by like one day, it seems like it's time to go home, back to Russia, but it was not there. The editorial board of the "Potato System" magazine prepared an interesting rich program especially for its delegation.
The trip to Germany was the first out-of-page event for the Potato System magazine. We wanted to expand the scope of the publication and help readers see with their own eyes what they usually read about on the pages of the magazine. Our initiative was fully understood by the organizers of the exhibition, our permanent partner, 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, 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 variety of its stands and companies that represent their products. And it is quite symbolic that the bulletin was handed over to Russian-speaking visitors by Russian and Ukrainian students who were in Germany on an industrial practice.
The 'PotatoEurope' exhibition itself began to be held relatively recently, since 2006, and it is held alternately in the four 'potato' states of the Old World: Germany, Belgium, France and Holland.
The editorial board of the magazine offered its readers and travelers a not very large, but very intensive program. In addition to visiting the exhibition itself. the participants of the trip were able to get acquainted with the activities of leading foreign companies, covering almost the entire spectrum of potato production: 'Dupont' - plant protection means, 'Grimme' - field and warehouse equipment, 'Europlant' - seed material.
And I must say, the members of the group brilliantly withstood the intense rhythm of the trip suggested by the magazine. Judge for yourself, 40 minutes after accommodation in the hotel of the German educational center "Doyle", all the participants were already getting acquainted with the novelties of the DuPont company in the beautiful "wooden pavilion" of "Doila". Regional sales manager of the plant protection department Igor Redkozubov, together with his European colleagues, spoke about the entire line of DuPont potato preparations (read about the new drug KORAGEN ™). A pleasant surprise for all those present was the performance of the partner of the DuPont Company, the representative of the Lechler lance, Yuri Rotenberg. Lechler is the world leader in plant sprayers. At the end of the presentation, Yuri Rotenberg, on behalf of Lechler, made wonderful and, frankly, expensive gifts to the assembled potato growers - a complete set of sprayers.
The next day, after the end of the exhibition, our group was met by Alexander Schumann, head of the eastern department of the Grimme agricultural machinery plant.
The acquaintance with one of the leaders of the world agricultural machinery industry took place, 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 plant. It is very important for Herr Grimme that the buyers of the machinery see the meticulous care with which the machines bearing the name of his family have been produced for over 150 years. An employee of the eastern department Dmitry Guyo gave an interesting and informative tour throughout the plant. A bright end to the Grimme Day was a dinner in a restaurant with a big German wedding. Not every bride in Germany can boast that she got married under the kind words of the leading potato growers in Russia!
Despite the fact that the first visit to Europlant began on Saturday 11 September at 8.00:4500 am, Europlant CEO Jörg Eggers and Expert Department Director Thomas Bogtner were already waiting for us at the XNUMX ton storage facility. A tour of the storage facility, a visit to the Europlant seed farm and a demonstration field all provided an impressive impression of Europe's leading seed potato producer. A large number of questions during the visit and a meaningful discussion at dinner - this is what will be remembered for Saturday's visit to Europlant.
I would like to say a few more words about our partner, co-organizer of the trip - the German educational institution Doyle. Employees of this wonderful organization not only did everything possible to make the participants of the trip feel at home, but also managed to seriously interest our readers in their activities. Berzd Antelmann, Deputy Director of Doyle's Learning Center, has shown the full potential of his institution, and many team members are now seriously considering sending their staff to Doyle for a week-long workshop.
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 cannot describe everything in a small article, and emotions are more appropriate at the scene. Therefore, I want to believe that the 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 "Potato System" magazine. And yet - we will definitely repeat something similar, but already in Belgium. Until next time!