The 2023 Farm Machinery Show will return, for the 20th year, to Punchestown Racecourse in July, according to the Farm Tractor and Machinery Trade Association (FTMTA).
The show, which last year attracted more than 7,000 visitors, will take place at Punchestown Racecourse in Naas, Co. Kildare over two days on Wednesday, July 5 and Thursday, July 6.
Michael Farrelly, executive director of the FTMTA – which has been organising farm machinery shows for more than 30 years – said: “This year’s show will continue the tradition of a professional show that showcases the latest agricultural machinery, equipment, technology and associated services and brings together the farm machinery trade and their customer base.”
Farm Machinery Show
According to the FTMTA, the Farm Machinery Show has become a key date in the Irish show calendar.
The association held its first Farm Machinery Show in the RDS showgrounds, Dublin in 1989 and since 2003 has organised a show at the Punchestown Event Centre.
Last year, the association unveiled a new format for the show which featured in the region of 150 individual exhibitors across 200 exhibits in both indoor and outdoor display areas.
According to the FTMTA, the key objective of the Farm Machinery Show is to provide a “dedicated, professional, machinery exhibition” to showcase the products and services of the farm machinery industry.
The association said the show is primarily organised with farmers and contractors in mind and it believes that this has been instrumental to the success of the Farm Machinery Show to date.
The FTMTA has stressed that all exhibitors must be a “genuinely agricultural-focused businesses”.
Farrelly added: “It is very satisfying for us as the national Farm Tractor and Machinery Trade Association to see the continued support our shows receive from manufacturers.
“At last year’s summer show in Punchestown we had all the major manufacturers exhibit their products.
“Already we have a large number of manufacturers confirm their intention to exhibit again at our 2023 summer show.
“This is at a time when other major machinery shows are struggling to attract the manufacturers,” Farrelly said.
He added that feedback from the 2022 show highlighted that visitors were easily able to locate the products they were interested in, and enjoyed the opportunity to hear directly from expert technical staff or from manufacturers on the day.
“Exhibitors were also impressed by the quality of the visitors who attended the show, all the visitors were genuine machinery users and customers, which then facilitated focused discussions on the products,” Farrelly added.
The executive director of the FTMTA said the association is now looking ahead to future events and towards plans to return to its flagship indoor event in Punchestown from 2024 onwards. This show will be held on a bi-annual basis on the alternate year to Agritechnia in Germany.