From January 24 to 26, 2024, in Moscow at the Crocus Expo International Exhibition Center, with the active participation of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture and the country's leading industry associations, two exhibitions were held for agricultural professionals: AGROS-2024 and Potatoes and Vegetables Agrotech. In total, 713 companies from Russia and 23 countries of the world presented the most modern solutions at their exhibition stands to 18 professionals in the agro-industrial complex from 640 regions of Russia and 86 other countries. A record number of industry experts – 30 – spoke at 80 business events.
First International Exhibition Potato Horti AgriTech (“Potatoes and Vegetables Agrotech”), held jointly with AGROS, aroused great interest among potato and vegetable producers and processors - more than 8 000 from the total Visitor Participants of both exhibitions showed interest in its exposition and business program events.
Welcoming exhibitors "Potatoes and Vegetables Agrotech", Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Agrarian Issues, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Kashin emphasized the importance of developing and increasing the profitability of potato and vegetable growing in the overall strategy for the development of the domestic agro-industrial complex, and also proposed «expand the potato and vegetable themes of the exhibition: “It would be good to add fruit growing here in the future. Then we'd have a true trio to look out for." Vladimir Ivanovich also noted, that “Holding exhibitions in these areas is important, because Russia has to do serious work to reach the volumes of production of vegetables, potatoes and fruits that are needed to provide high-quality food and vitamin products to our population.”
“The joint holding of the AGROS and Potatoes and Vegetables Agrotech exhibitions this year made it possible to increase the number of companies at the exhibition by 68 percent, which ultimately reflected an increase in the number of visitors by more than 30 percent compared to last year,” – noted Gennady Myndru, General Director of the organizing company Agros Expo Group LLC. “This year the international exposure of exhibitions has increased significantly, especially from countries such as China, Belarus, and Turkey. In order to maintain, strengthen and develop international relations and create an industry platform of global importance in Russia, we will continue to work intensively both in traditional markets and with new partners in different countries and on different continents.”, – Gennady Myndru shared his plans.
In the official exhibition opening ceremony "Potatoes and Vegetables Agrotech" took part: Vladimir Kashin, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Agrarian Issues, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences; Alexander Suchkov, First Deputy General Director of Rosagroleasing JSC; Salis Karakotov, General Director of Shchelkovo Agrokhim JSC; Tatyana Gubina, Head of the Office of the Potato Union; Gennady Myndru, General Director of Agros Expo Group LLC. All participants in the opening ceremony noted the uniqueness of the exhibition and expressed hope that the first international exhibition dedicated to technologies for the production and processing of vegetables will become a traditional industry platform and a meeting place for industry professionals to exchange experiences.
General partner of the exhibition "Potatoes and Vegetables Agrotech" became the Potato Union. The general sponsor of the exhibition is JSC Shchelkovo Agrokhim. The official partner bank is PJSC Sberbank. The main information partner is the Potato System magazine.
“Potatoes and Vegetables Agrotech” is the first exhibition in Russia, reflecting the full cycle from the selection of seed material, plant protection products, fertilizers, machinery and equipment for production, primary processing and storage, as well as solutions for deep processing of potatoes and vegetables to the sale of finished products,” – notes the head of the exhibition Sergey Zhuravlev. “86 companies exhibited at the first exhibition and more than 8 visitors - this is an impressive result that confirms the correctness of the chosen concept,” – added Sergey Zhuravlev.
Expositions of modern breeding, technical and technological solutions "Potatoes and Vegetables Agrotech" were supplemented by a discussion of the most important issues of the industry within the framework 27 business events with performances 230 experts industry. Partners in organizing business program events were leading industry unions, associations, research centers and educational institutions, supervisory agencies and other reputable organizations and companies.
The main event of the business program was plenary session “Strategy for the development of the potato and vegetable growing industry”, in which the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Agrarian Issues, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Kashin took part. Director of the Department of Plant Growing, Mechanization, Chemicalization and Plant Protection of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Roman Nekrasov read out a greeting to the participants and guests of the exhibition from the Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation Andrei Razin. Presentations were made by First Deputy General Director of Rosagroleasing JSC Alexander Suchkov, Director of the Federal Scientific Center for Vegetable Growing Alexey Soldatenko, Director of the Federal Research Center for Potatoes named after A.G. Lorkha Sergey Zhevora, executive director of the Union of Potato and Vegetable Market Participants Alexey Krasilnikov and others.
A special point of attraction at the exhibition was "Potato House" organized by the Potato Union. For numerous visitors to the exhibition, a special tasting area for varieties of potatoes and vegetables of Russian selection was organized here, presentations of new books about potatoes and cooking were held, and chefs of the International Alliance of Professional Culinary Specialists held master classes on preparing a variety of dishes from potatoes and vegetables.
The round table on the topic: “Retail networks: interaction in a new format of trade” aroused great interest among industry professionals, during which the problems of changing needs of the modern buyer, how to avoid the “swing” of overproduction and shortage of potatoes and vegetables, and much more were discussed. Also on this day there was an “Exchange of contacts with retail chains”, which was attended by 26 representatives such famous retail chains, such as X5 Group, Azbuka Vkusa, Auchan, Verny, VkusVill, Lenta, Magnit, Magnolia, METRO, Almond, Monetka, OKEY, Pelican, Petrovsky, Association of Retail Companies, fast food cafe chain “Kroshka-Kartoshka” and others.
Active discussions were held within the framework of technological sessions and round tables devoted to the most pressing problems of the industry - education and personnel, methods of combating diseases of potatoes and vegetables, digitalization and precision agriculture, export problems, packaging and storage, accelerated selection, increasing the yield and quality of potatoes and vegetables
On the third day, January 26, representatives of small and medium-sized farms gathered at the “Potatoes and Vegetables Agrotech” site for the Federal Farmers’ Forum. Within the framework of the forum, thematic round tables were held on the specifics of running agribusiness in various sectors of agriculture, as well as issues of cooperation.
Summing up the work of the AGROS and Potatoes and Vegetables Agrotech exhibitions, it should be noted that the activities of such industry discussion platforms for the exchange of information and experience with industry specialists, partners and competitors are in high demand both among managers and specialists of agricultural companies. For several years now, AGROS has been a unique exhibition platform for demonstrating developments to a wide professional audience from different regions of Russia and countries near and far abroad. The successful launch of the exhibition dedicated to the potato and vegetable growing industries was a good incentive for further development in this area.
For the convenience of exhibition participants and visitors, it was developed mobile app, in which exhibition guests could find all the necessary information about the exhibition, participants and business program events.
See you again on January 22-24, 2025
in Moscow, at the Crocus Expo IEC!