Show bookings have started

Even though the exhibitor application packs for next year’s FTMTA Farm Machinery Show were only issued last week, early bookings are already at unprecedented levels. The closing date for receipt of completed stand applications is 28 October and any firm interested in exhibiting at next year’s show who has not already received a copy of the exhibitor pack should contact FTMTA on admin@ftmta.ie or at 045-409309.

The show is Ireland’s flagship farm machinery event and will return to Punchestown Racecourse near Naas on 9, 10 and 11 February. The FTMTA Farm Machinery Show is Ireland’s largest dedicated farm machinery event and is also the largest indoor agricultural event in Ireland, attracting nearly 19,000 visitors in 2015.

The FTMTA Farm Machinery Show appeals to farm machinery businesses as a well organised event, laid out and built to a high standard on a site with top-class facilities, which is easily accessed from Dublin Airport and sea ports. The show has maintained its focus through the years as a farm machinery event attended by genuine machinery buyers. In keeping with the association’s ethos for both FTMTA Grass & Muck and the FTMTA Farm Machinery Show, as events that are organised by the trade for the farmer and contractor, only stands from genuinely agricultural focused businesses will be accepted.

Ultra low sulphur diesel

As mentioned in this column on many previous occasions, all diesel supplied for use in agricultural tractors since 31 March 2011 must meet the standards that are generally described as ultra low sulphur diesel (ULSD).

The FTMTA continues to receive reports that users in various parts of the country are having difficulty obtaining the correct fuel. This issue has the potential to give rise to tensions between customer and dealer when in fact there should be no room for any misunderstanding on this point.

Farmers and contractors should ensure that they are being supplied with the correct fuel and make it clear to their suppliers that the fuel is required for agricultural use and that the supplier may be held liable for any issues arising from the supply of an incorrect fuel.

FTMTA AGM

The 2016 annual general meeting of the FTMTA, which takes place at 11.30am on Thursday 8 September at the FTMTA offices near Naas, will be the 50th AGM of the association since the Agricultural Implement Trade Association (Ireland) Ltd was formally incorporated on 31 August 1965.

The first formal meeting of a group representing the Irish machinery trade seems to have been in 1913 when the Implement Merchants Association of Ireland was formed at the Spring Show in May of that year. This followed a meeting the previous year when a group of Irish businesses came together to meet a number of British manufacturers at the Smithfield Show in London.