The Farm Tractor and Machinery Trade Association (FTMTA) recently held its biennial conference at which a good portion of Ireland's machinery trade gathered to hear speakers discuss topics of interest to them.

The conference is also a chance for members to catch up with one another and discuss the topics of the day, which may not always align with what is being discussed in the media as matters of pressing interest.

For this year, the role of association president is filled by Maurice Kelly of Kellys Agricultural Machinery, Borris, Co. Carlow, who opened the proceedings with an address that primarily reminded attendees that the world's population is growing, and will need feeding.

The answer is mechanisation

To feed this growing population will require bigger and more efficient machines and it is as this point that the trade plays a pivotal role, acting as an interface between manufacturers and farmers, according to Kelly.

His conclusion was simple; the world needs farm machinery so, by proper management of their businesses. dealership owners and managers will have a long and prosperous future ahead.

Fleshing out the bones of such a promise was Karol Kissane of the Irish Farm Accounts Cooperative (ifac), who presented a series of graphs indicating that optimism within the trade was rising and greater investment was planned, especially in buildings.

He also noted that an investigative report, commissioned by the FTMTA, on the industry and its importance to the economy on a local and national scale, had been due for launch at the conference.

Unfortunately, ifac had experienced some difficulties in gathering the data required for a full overview, so its publication had been delayed which, in retrospect was no bad thing as it would have clashed with the budget announcements and he gave every indication that there was plenty in it to shout about.

Rules of employment

Two further items which were addressed by guest speakers were the fields of employment law and selling through social media.

Mary Cullen, founder of Insight HR, pointed out that slack employment practices have been targeted by over 40 pieces of legislation and there is little wriggle room left.

Her advice boiled down to ensuring that an employer is aware of its responsibilities and duty under the law. Fines can be imposed by inspectors which have the power to call unannounced and investigate every aspect of a company's employment practices.

It goes without saying that farms are also subject to the very same regulations as dealers and manufacturers, therefore it is best to keep a close eye on the process of hiring and employing staff.

Selling by the phone

Although not immediately relevant to most farmers, Jill Lush of Lush Marketing ran through some pointers to successful online marketing, which culminated in the advice to keep in mind that most internet browsing was done on mobiles, so marketing content needs to fit tidily and visibly on a small screen.

There were two further speakers at the FTMTA conference with much to say of interest to dealers and farmers alike, one looked at the impact of AI and the other came with some pointers on managing a business. These will be covered in detail in a further article.