EuroTier is the trend-setting hub for the livestock industry, - Ines Rathke, Director of EuroTier 2024
Source: DairyNews.today
Every year, EuroTier reaffirms its reputation as the largest international livestock exhibition, and in 2024, the event promises to be a significant landmark for the entire sector. This year’s theme, “We Innovate Animal Farming,” reflects not only a commitment to advanced technologies but also to addressing the pressing challenges faced by farmers worldwide. In an interview with The DairyNews.today, Ines Rathke, Director of EuroTier 2024, discusses the key trends and innovations that will be featured at this landmark event, organized by DLG (German Agricultural Society).
Ines, Could you tell us about yourself and the role you play in organizing EuroTier 2024?
First of all let me say, EuroTier is not only an enormous trade show with 2100 exhibitors, it offers over 400 side events of technical program, conferences and networking opportunities. My job as project manager is to coordinate our great team and make sure everything comes nicely together. EuroTier also includes another major event which is EnergyDecentral, a leading trade fair for renewable energy with a focus on agriculture. Both trade fairs are held together in Hanover, Germany, every two years.
Livestock is already in my veins. I was brought up in Brandenburg, near Berlin, where my family breeds horses. I studied animal science at Berlin and Göttingen University and have since been able to apply my passion for livestock in Germany, UK and Hong Kong. Since joining the DLG German Agricultural Society, organizer of EuroTier, I am based in Frankfurt. Its headquarters.
What are the main themes and trends that will be covered in the technical program of EuroTier 2024?
The technical program is governed by the theme “We innovate animal farming”. Faced with climate change, increased environmental regulations and changing social demands on agriculture, livestock farmers definitely need innovations that support sustainable operations. When developing the technical program, we asked the question: How can we help livestock farmers find the answers to the questions of tomorrow in order to continue to not only ensure food security and but also secure their farms in the long term?»
This is answered in the more than 400 talks and presentations across all species, including pig, poultry, dairy, beef and even horses. The technical program addresses all current topics, fr om technology, farm management, legislation, policies and trending topics like feeding robots, tail docking and artificial intelligence.
The technical trend topics are incorporated into our DLG-Spotlights called “Farm Robot Event”, “Farm Robotix”, “Artificial intelligence in the poultry housing” and “Top Tier Treff” which means “Top Genetics for beef and dairy” and “Inhouse farming” which presents self-contained indoor agriculture systems. Each of these topics is explored in-depth using exhibits, expert talks and hands-on information and above all offers interaction with farmers.
What innovations in livestock and poultry farming do you plan to showcase at the exhibition this year?
The innovation highlight of the exhibition is our EuroTier innovation awards, which presents gold and silver to particular innovative solutions among the many hundreds of world premieres. These award-winners and world premieres will be announced later this autumn but I can already say that I expect the innovative solutions that we present in the DLG-Spotlights to reflect the key trends. Farms continue to benefit greatly fr om automating their farm processes with robots, which then frees up time to use elsewhere to further optimize other farm operations. As an example, we present live seven different dairy robot feeders in action in the Farm Robot Event
Our new platform “Farm Robotix” is sure to present innovations in livestock robotics across all species, digitalization, automation and AI in agriculture.
Another innovation highlight of the trade fair is the topic of artificial intelligence throughout the 13 halls. In a special dedicated exhibition area, start-ups and established companies will be presenting their AI-based solutions for poultry farming, fr om in-ovo sexing to animal welfare and health monitoring. Some of these features have applicability for other species too.
Which companies and countries have already confirmed their participation in EuroTier 2024? Are there any new markets or key players joining the exhibition for the first time?
More than 2100 companies will be exhibiting at EuroTier over 65 percent are fr om outside Germany, hailing from 55 countries. A special area is dedicated to startup companies, many from the dairy sector, and there you can always find new players offering exciting innovations like artificial intelligence, digital solutions and animal monitoring systems. There are always certain markets that are the flavor of the month so I invite your readers to come and identify these. Over 20% of exhibitiors are first timers. They join EuroTier to access new an exciting markets as EuroTier is a gateway to east and west thanks to its central location in Hanover, which reaches the former eastern bloc and further beyond like Kazakhstan.
Our 25 country pavilions which are collections of companies from a particular region, is a place wh ere you can usually find many new exhibitors. Bulgaria, China, Finland, Korea, Spain and France, the US and the UK are among the countries with a pavilion this year.
Which events and activities at the exhibition would you particularly recommend to visitors?
As a dairy farmer, you should not miss the Barn Robot Event that presents animal housing robots for feeding and also offers networking opportunities in many languages. “TopTierTreff” is an event wh ere live dairy and beef animals of a range of breeds are presented on stage so don’t miss this opportunity to evaluate and inspect these strong animals bred for longevity and performance. And you should visit the exhibitors who won gold and silver EuroTier Innovation Award Medals this year!
The DLG spotlight "Inhouse Farming" is all about self-contained agricultural and food systems including a focus on insects. Additional topics are aquaculture and vertical farming in circular economy systems.
Animal nutrition is a major lever for greater animal welfare, animal health and efficiency on the farm. Farmers can start here easily and will find plenty of inspiration and new ideas for the future in three large halls at EuroTier.
Towards the end of the day when you have visited all 13 halls, covering 22 hectares, visitors should have a well deserved break in our international visitors lounge wh ere our DLG team will welcome you. Together they speak over 20 languages!
What role does EuroTier play in the global exchange of knowledge and technologies in the livestock sector?
With 22 hectares of indoor space - the same as a small farm in Europe, EuroTier is one of the largest venues in the world for livestock solutions which of course combines farm know-how as well as technical solutions. The aim of the DLG as organizer is to further knowledge for farmers to equip them with information to make sound investment decisions. Inspecting machinery and other physical or digital solutions close-up is just one part of this but gathering knowledge is another key part. This includes communicating with other farmers and experts.
The integration of EnergyDecentral exhibition into EuroTier brings advantages for livestock farmers who can identify renewable energy solutions like biogas plants but also the more recent agrivoltaic approach. These are dual-use fields wh ere both solar energy generation take place alongside suitable crops.
We can see this most clearly the day before EuroTier kicks off. Several farmer-focused events have been organized at the exhibition grounds by farmers groups. These are “Cattle and Pig Event” and the International Poultry Conference. This is a day – 11 November 2024 – is dedicated to knowledge about an array of topics. For farmers across Europe, EuroTier is a must attend event to keep updated on trends and technical knowledge. Over the years EuroTier increasingly includes farmers fr om Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyztan who come to collect information to plan for the future.
This year's the International Cattle & Pig Event, the keynote address at the International Cattle & Pig Event will be given delivered by the current Governor of the US state of Nebraska. Dr. Jim Pillen is a veterinarian, and owner of Pillen Family Farms, a large-scale genetics company. Dr. Pillen will be giving a view beyond the horizon and with best-practice examples from international agriculture. The panel discussion is titled "Global markets and local frameworks - how pioneering farmers fit the future" with Dr. Jim Pillen (keynote), Tom Dunne (European Dairy Farmers), Gert van Beek (European Pig Producers).
What role does the EuroTier exhibition play in the development of the global livestock and poultry market? What opportunities does it offer to participants?
The DLG, EuroTier’s organizer, is continually focused on its non-profit activity which is to promote knowledge in agriculture and to share that knowledge for farmers at exhibition platforms like EuroTier. We are using our worldwide network of some 3,000 leading experts in their field to bring both people, knowledge and solutions together in one spot. This is not only a four-day event but EuroTier is a key part of the product development activity for livestock companies.
At EuroTier, input from international farmers is used to develop future products and solutions that fill a market need. Because everyone in the whole livestock industry is gathered in one spot, from practical farmers, dealers, manufacturers and service suppliers to organizations, experts and academia, EuroTier with its 120,000 visitors and 2,100 exhibitors is the trend-setting hub for the livestock industry.
With the sheer volume and experience of these participants, there is bound to be a solution for every single issue and there are numerous opportunities to explore all areas of farm management and methods. You cannot leave EuroTier without being inspired and confident about your farm’s future.
What achievements and successes of EuroTier in recent years would you like to highlight?
The biggest success is the fact that EuroTier attracts so many innovations in one spot. The DLG has appointed several independent juries to evaluate the registered world premieres. These innovations are for market-ready solutions that the farmers can apply on the farms shortly. Past innovations for dairy cattle have included a teat cup liner for dairy cattle that detects pressure differences and acts to prevent injuries as well as a system that can stimulate urine production in a stress-fress way and collect it to reduce emission in the dairy shed. Animal welfare plays an enormous role today and we therefore introduced the distinction “animal welfare award” that recognizes such innovations.
DLG’s “Agrifuture Concept winner award” recognizes concepts that are futuristic and serve as trend-setting scenarios. One was a concept for fully autonomous harvesting and feeding of fresh grass throughout the vegetation period.
EuroTier has existed for over 30 years. The exhibition together with its technical program has developed internationally and today offer farmers from some 150 countries a regular meeting place wh ere they can plan the farm’s future. Of these countries we have a significant increase of farming visitors from Central Asia especially Kazakstan, Uzbekistan and Georgia. This means we continue to develop exhibition to offer content that fulfill the needs of particular regions also.
What expectations do you have for the 2024 exhibition?
I expect EuroTier 2024 to offer even more world premiering innovations for all areas of livestock production and I expect more farming visitors from Central Asia.
EuroTier 2024 in parallel with EnergyDecentral along with the Inhouse Farming Food and Feedshow will be a guiding light, giving farmers from all over the world an array of solutions and farm approaches that will equip them to develop the farm further.
I look forward to welcoming readers from the DairyNews.today!
Ines, thank you for the interview!
First of all let me say, EuroTier is not only an enormous trade show with 2100 exhibitors, it offers over 400 side events of technical program, conferences and networking opportunities. My job as project manager is to coordinate our great team and make sure everything comes nicely together. EuroTier also includes another major event which is EnergyDecentral, a leading trade fair for renewable energy with a focus on agriculture. Both trade fairs are held together in Hanover, Germany, every two years.
Livestock is already in my veins. I was brought up in Brandenburg, near Berlin, where my family breeds horses. I studied animal science at Berlin and Göttingen University and have since been able to apply my passion for livestock in Germany, UK and Hong Kong. Since joining the DLG German Agricultural Society, organizer of EuroTier, I am based in Frankfurt. Its headquarters.
What are the main themes and trends that will be covered in the technical program of EuroTier 2024?
The technical program is governed by the theme “We innovate animal farming”. Faced with climate change, increased environmental regulations and changing social demands on agriculture, livestock farmers definitely need innovations that support sustainable operations. When developing the technical program, we asked the question: How can we help livestock farmers find the answers to the questions of tomorrow in order to continue to not only ensure food security and but also secure their farms in the long term?»
This is answered in the more than 400 talks and presentations across all species, including pig, poultry, dairy, beef and even horses. The technical program addresses all current topics, fr om technology, farm management, legislation, policies and trending topics like feeding robots, tail docking and artificial intelligence.
The technical trend topics are incorporated into our DLG-Spotlights called “Farm Robot Event”, “Farm Robotix”, “Artificial intelligence in the poultry housing” and “Top Tier Treff” which means “Top Genetics for beef and dairy” and “Inhouse farming” which presents self-contained indoor agriculture systems. Each of these topics is explored in-depth using exhibits, expert talks and hands-on information and above all offers interaction with farmers.
What innovations in livestock and poultry farming do you plan to showcase at the exhibition this year?
The innovation highlight of the exhibition is our EuroTier innovation awards, which presents gold and silver to particular innovative solutions among the many hundreds of world premieres. These award-winners and world premieres will be announced later this autumn but I can already say that I expect the innovative solutions that we present in the DLG-Spotlights to reflect the key trends. Farms continue to benefit greatly fr om automating their farm processes with robots, which then frees up time to use elsewhere to further optimize other farm operations. As an example, we present live seven different dairy robot feeders in action in the Farm Robot Event
Our new platform “Farm Robotix” is sure to present innovations in livestock robotics across all species, digitalization, automation and AI in agriculture.
Another innovation highlight of the trade fair is the topic of artificial intelligence throughout the 13 halls. In a special dedicated exhibition area, start-ups and established companies will be presenting their AI-based solutions for poultry farming, fr om in-ovo sexing to animal welfare and health monitoring. Some of these features have applicability for other species too.
Which companies and countries have already confirmed their participation in EuroTier 2024? Are there any new markets or key players joining the exhibition for the first time?
More than 2100 companies will be exhibiting at EuroTier over 65 percent are fr om outside Germany, hailing from 55 countries. A special area is dedicated to startup companies, many from the dairy sector, and there you can always find new players offering exciting innovations like artificial intelligence, digital solutions and animal monitoring systems. There are always certain markets that are the flavor of the month so I invite your readers to come and identify these. Over 20% of exhibitiors are first timers. They join EuroTier to access new an exciting markets as EuroTier is a gateway to east and west thanks to its central location in Hanover, which reaches the former eastern bloc and further beyond like Kazakhstan.
Our 25 country pavilions which are collections of companies from a particular region, is a place wh ere you can usually find many new exhibitors. Bulgaria, China, Finland, Korea, Spain and France, the US and the UK are among the countries with a pavilion this year.
Which events and activities at the exhibition would you particularly recommend to visitors?
As a dairy farmer, you should not miss the Barn Robot Event that presents animal housing robots for feeding and also offers networking opportunities in many languages. “TopTierTreff” is an event wh ere live dairy and beef animals of a range of breeds are presented on stage so don’t miss this opportunity to evaluate and inspect these strong animals bred for longevity and performance. And you should visit the exhibitors who won gold and silver EuroTier Innovation Award Medals this year!
The DLG spotlight "Inhouse Farming" is all about self-contained agricultural and food systems including a focus on insects. Additional topics are aquaculture and vertical farming in circular economy systems.
Animal nutrition is a major lever for greater animal welfare, animal health and efficiency on the farm. Farmers can start here easily and will find plenty of inspiration and new ideas for the future in three large halls at EuroTier.
Towards the end of the day when you have visited all 13 halls, covering 22 hectares, visitors should have a well deserved break in our international visitors lounge wh ere our DLG team will welcome you. Together they speak over 20 languages!
What role does EuroTier play in the global exchange of knowledge and technologies in the livestock sector?
With 22 hectares of indoor space - the same as a small farm in Europe, EuroTier is one of the largest venues in the world for livestock solutions which of course combines farm know-how as well as technical solutions. The aim of the DLG as organizer is to further knowledge for farmers to equip them with information to make sound investment decisions. Inspecting machinery and other physical or digital solutions close-up is just one part of this but gathering knowledge is another key part. This includes communicating with other farmers and experts.
The integration of EnergyDecentral exhibition into EuroTier brings advantages for livestock farmers who can identify renewable energy solutions like biogas plants but also the more recent agrivoltaic approach. These are dual-use fields wh ere both solar energy generation take place alongside suitable crops.
We can see this most clearly the day before EuroTier kicks off. Several farmer-focused events have been organized at the exhibition grounds by farmers groups. These are “Cattle and Pig Event” and the International Poultry Conference. This is a day – 11 November 2024 – is dedicated to knowledge about an array of topics. For farmers across Europe, EuroTier is a must attend event to keep updated on trends and technical knowledge. Over the years EuroTier increasingly includes farmers fr om Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyztan who come to collect information to plan for the future.
This year's the International Cattle & Pig Event, the keynote address at the International Cattle & Pig Event will be given delivered by the current Governor of the US state of Nebraska. Dr. Jim Pillen is a veterinarian, and owner of Pillen Family Farms, a large-scale genetics company. Dr. Pillen will be giving a view beyond the horizon and with best-practice examples from international agriculture. The panel discussion is titled "Global markets and local frameworks - how pioneering farmers fit the future" with Dr. Jim Pillen (keynote), Tom Dunne (European Dairy Farmers), Gert van Beek (European Pig Producers).
What role does the EuroTier exhibition play in the development of the global livestock and poultry market? What opportunities does it offer to participants?
The DLG, EuroTier’s organizer, is continually focused on its non-profit activity which is to promote knowledge in agriculture and to share that knowledge for farmers at exhibition platforms like EuroTier. We are using our worldwide network of some 3,000 leading experts in their field to bring both people, knowledge and solutions together in one spot. This is not only a four-day event but EuroTier is a key part of the product development activity for livestock companies.
At EuroTier, input from international farmers is used to develop future products and solutions that fill a market need. Because everyone in the whole livestock industry is gathered in one spot, from practical farmers, dealers, manufacturers and service suppliers to organizations, experts and academia, EuroTier with its 120,000 visitors and 2,100 exhibitors is the trend-setting hub for the livestock industry.
With the sheer volume and experience of these participants, there is bound to be a solution for every single issue and there are numerous opportunities to explore all areas of farm management and methods. You cannot leave EuroTier without being inspired and confident about your farm’s future.
What achievements and successes of EuroTier in recent years would you like to highlight?
The biggest success is the fact that EuroTier attracts so many innovations in one spot. The DLG has appointed several independent juries to evaluate the registered world premieres. These innovations are for market-ready solutions that the farmers can apply on the farms shortly. Past innovations for dairy cattle have included a teat cup liner for dairy cattle that detects pressure differences and acts to prevent injuries as well as a system that can stimulate urine production in a stress-fress way and collect it to reduce emission in the dairy shed. Animal welfare plays an enormous role today and we therefore introduced the distinction “animal welfare award” that recognizes such innovations.
DLG’s “Agrifuture Concept winner award” recognizes concepts that are futuristic and serve as trend-setting scenarios. One was a concept for fully autonomous harvesting and feeding of fresh grass throughout the vegetation period.
EuroTier has existed for over 30 years. The exhibition together with its technical program has developed internationally and today offer farmers from some 150 countries a regular meeting place wh ere they can plan the farm’s future. Of these countries we have a significant increase of farming visitors from Central Asia especially Kazakstan, Uzbekistan and Georgia. This means we continue to develop exhibition to offer content that fulfill the needs of particular regions also.
What expectations do you have for the 2024 exhibition?
I expect EuroTier 2024 to offer even more world premiering innovations for all areas of livestock production and I expect more farming visitors from Central Asia.
EuroTier 2024 in parallel with EnergyDecentral along with the Inhouse Farming Food and Feedshow will be a guiding light, giving farmers from all over the world an array of solutions and farm approaches that will equip them to develop the farm further.
I look forward to welcoming readers from the DairyNews.today!
Ines, thank you for the interview!
23.09.2024
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