16 successful years
4th May 1994 - First version of the Agrishow Ribeirão Preto, which would change the course of Brazilian agro business.
The biggest success for the Agrishow came when it adopted the concept of a dynamic agricultural show, in other words, a fair that is not merely a static exhibition, but has demonstrations of machinery, equipment and agricultural implements in action. This new type of event, in which rural producers have the opportunity of assessing the performance of equipment under real operating conditions, was the main characteristic of the Farm Progress Show, in the United States and of Expochacra, in Argentina. In Brazil, the first experience of this type of fair was Expodinâmica, an event held on two occasions, the first in Londrina, Paraná, and the second in Uberaba, Minas Gerais, both organized on the initiative of Brasílio de Araújo Neto, a rural land-owner and President of the Rural Society of Paraná, in partnership with the company responsible for organizing the Argentinean fair.
“The Agrishow was a way of rethinking fairs. Before its creation, agricultural fairs were held together with cattle fairs, and had shows with artists entertaining, and lots of drink flowing”, remembers Shiro Nishimura, president of Máquinas Agrícolas Jacto. “Those of us who sold capital goods wanted a different ‘stage’. Before the Agrishow appeared, we felt the lack of a specialized fair for our segment, as we did not want to be selling machines until midnight. We wanted a fair that would allow us to show the usefulness of our product to our final clients. The president of Jacto also believes that the Agrishow came about from a combination of the ideas of Ney Bittencourt, and Roberto Rodrigues, associates of the Chamber of Agricultural Machines and Implements and directors of Abimaq.
Agrishow Project
The idea of creating a dynamic fair began to be formally dealt with in a meeting which took place on May 22nd, 1993.
This happened at the headquarters of Carborundum, in Vinhedo, SP, presided by Ivan Pupo Lauandos, director of the company and actual president of DNMIA – National Department of Agricultural Machines and Implements of Abimaq, which later became the current Chamber. This meeting, which had representatives of Anfavea, Marchesan, Baldan and Jumil, dealt with the “National Dynamic Exhibition of Machines and Agricultural Input” and it was decided that Abimaq, Anfavea, Anda, Andef and Abrasem should be involved in the project, and that they would be contacted after an organizing company had been identified. It was also decided that the first version would be realized in the state of São Paulo and that it should be essentially a business fair. .
In the meeting held at the headquarters of Abimaq on 22nd June between representatives of the entities and the manufacturers, the practical steps such as consultations with the entities and search for organizing companies with experience to realize the event, were defined. “All of those who were involved in these initial meetings sought to realize a dynamic fair based on the example of the Farm Progress Show, which all had visited”, remembers Ivan Lauandos. “There was a consensus that it should be a fair that was less political and more technical, and that in no way should there be shows as used to happen at the Agriculture/Livestock events which were held in Brazil at the time.”
At the following meeting, which was held on July 27th, Abag, SRB, Anfavea and Abimaq confirmed their intention to participate in the event which at that moment was provisionally called “1st Dynamic Fair for Agricultural Equipment”. The representatives of these entities also decided to repeat their invitation Anda, Andef and Abrasem to participate.
Name and location
The name Agrishow, which was suggested by Celso Luís Casale, was chosen as the definitive name for the event in a meeting held on 3rd August, 1993, in the headquarters of Abimaq. At the time an attempt was also made to try and define where the show should be held, with the suggestions, in order of preference, of Ribeirão Preto, São Carlos and Araras. Although most of those present preferred the first there was still no definition as to the property to be used.
Meanwhile, conversations had already been held with Embrapa about the possibility of holding the fair at the Canxim Farm in São Carlos. It was therefore decided that the committee would meet up in Ribeirão Preto on 10th August to visit the sites that were available in the city and that if there was no agreement about a suitable place then the fair would be held in São Carlos.
A meeting that was held on 14th September, 1993 at the Experimental Station can, therefore, be considered as the date when it was decided to hold the fair in Ribeirão Preto (SP). “The great accomplishment of Agrishow was to promote the first large meeting of all the links of the agribusiness production chain in Brazil. This permitted a greater approximation of all the involved areas and a better understanding of the problems of each area and the search for common solutions”, declared the ex president of Abimaq, Luiz Carlos Delben Leite. “From this point, a series of other stages were reached. Today the Agrishow is an absolute success, which can be seen from the annual growth in the public who attend. In 1994 we started with 17,000 people and in 2008 reached 140,000.
This success has been achieved because of how useful people find the Agrishow, because nowadays it brings together in one location all the main launches in machinery, implements, seeds, pesticides and fertilizers, in short in all the modern technologies that are being made available to Brazilian crop and livestock farmers.
Constant Evolution
The Agrishow is traditionally held in the week which encompasses the last days of April and the beginning of May, from Monday to Saturday. Or in other words, a period when farmers are finishing bringing in the previous harvest and preparing for the next. This was the ideal moment for making decisions on the acquisition of machinery, implements and other supplies. During this period they also have more time available to leave their properties and visit the fair.
Since 1994, Brazilian rural producers have appeared in Ribeirão Preto in an appreciable and growing manner. The companies, who soon perceived that the fair was becoming a privileged stage for their products and services, have increased their presence at the event, as can be proven by the numbers gathered by the organizers of Agrishow. In the first version, which occurred from 4th to 7th May 1994, 86 companies participated with a public of 17,000 visitors. One year later, the number of visitors was of the order of 60,000 people. From there until now, not only the number of visitors but also the number of exhibitors has increased from year to year. In 2008, in its 15th version, the event brought together 774 national and international exhibitors and attracted 140,000 visitors from different countries.
In 2000, meeting a demand which had been detected since the first version of the fair, the organizers created within the actual Agrishow of Ribeirão Preto, the Pasture and Hay-making Fair, a specific place for producers of food supplies for cattle. This new event within the larger fair attracted, in its first year, 30 exhibitors and received 38,000 visitors, including 500 foreigners. Also this year, Sebrae-SP sponsored the participation of 48 small companies, who during the fair, closed more than 700 deals worth R$ 903,000, and the expectation of future business estimated at R$ 7.8 million. The fourth version of this specific segment of the Agrishow Ribeirão Preto, in 2003, received a visit from the President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Today, Pasture and Hay-making is one of the segments of the fair which shows equipment, input and specific services for the sector, and has its own program of dynamic demonstrations, which allows cattle breeders to acquaint themselves with the most recent advances related to their activity.
Demonstrations
The dynamic demonstrations are the great differential of the Agrishow Ribeirão Preto.
The moment when “those companies who believe in themselves” – as expressed by the minister Roberto Rodrigues – not only show their products in a static way, but also demonstrate their efficiency and productivity, or phrased another way, the intrinsic qualities which really interest the potential client. For them, it is the moment to clear up doubts, comparing the performance of similar equipment. For the manufacturers, it is the time to stand up and prove the superiority of their products.
Since 2004, the demonstrations are classified into three groups: professional agriculture, domestic agriculture and cattle raising. The great preoccupation of the organizers is with respect to the rules meant to guarantee totally ethical and impartial participation.
There may be changes to the Agrishow Ribeirão Preto over the next editions but always in line with the needs of the dynamic national crop and livestock farming sector. All of these changes, however, must be conditional on the commitment assumed practically fifteen years ago by the organizing institutes, to make Agrishow a large and efficient “shop window of technology” and an “essentially business” fair.