FTMTA
The FTMTA are organisers of two very successful Agricultural shows, FTMTA Farm Machinery Show and FTMTA Grass & Muck. These events are organised by the trade for the farmers and the contractors of Ireland. The FTMTA's plan is to run the shows biennually on corresponding years so as not to exhaust the Industry and to ensure the quality and integrity of the shows.
FTMTA Farm Machinery Show
The FTMTA Farm Machinery Show 2017 drew to a close on Saturday, February 11th, after a very successful three days at the Punchestown site. A record attendance of nearly 21,000 people visited the Show with a huge crowd of nearly 9,000 on the Saturday.
Despite very cold weather during the preparation weeks, conditions on the Show days, while still cold, were pleasant and allowed visitors to take spend more time viewing the much increased outdoor display areas as well as visiting the many stands in the four exhibition pavilions.
Exhibitors reported good interest across all lines of machinery with a feeling that the pessimistic outlook around agricultural commodity pricing in late 2014 has eased somewhat and that farmers and contractors will continue to make the required investment in the mechanisation operations of their businesses.
The Enterprise Ireland organised Inward Buyer Visit to the Show of machinery businesses from Canada, Sweden, Germany, France and Holland went very well with the group visiting the Show over two days with a focus on meeting the Irish manufacturers and also getting the opportunity to visit two dairy farms in the locality on Friday morning. The visit was well received by the Irish manufacturers and FTMTA was glad to support the initiative and hopes that such visits can become an ongoing feature of the Show.
At the official opening (kindly sponsored by Irish Farmers Journal) of the Show by, FTMTA President, Graham McHugh, on the Thursday night of the Show a number of awards were presented to the three students with the best results in the first year of the initial intake into the Bachelor of Science (Agricultural Mechanisation) degree in IT Tralee. These awards were jointly sponsored by FTMTA and Irish Farmers Journal and were presented to Gerard Donovan (placement sponsored by Cork Farm Machinery, Carrigrohane Road, Cork), Padraig Carroll (placement sponsored by Nunan Farm Machinery, Broadford, Co. Limerick) and Tomas O'Rourke (placement sponsored by Templetuohy Farm Machinery - Laois, New Inn, Portlaoise, Co. Laois). These students are now all in second year and on placement with their respective sponsoring machinery firms.
FTMTA Grass & Muck
FTMTA GRASS & MUCK 2018
Preparations are well underway for what is sure to be the highlight of the Irish farm machinery year, FTMTA Grass & Muck 2018 at Gurteen College, Ballingarry, Roscrea, Co. Tipperary (near Birr) on Thursday, May 17th. Exhibition space at FTMTA Grass & Muck is fully sold out at this stage for what will be the major farm machinery event in Ireland in 2018, organised by the Farm Tractor & Machinery Trade Association (FTMTA) which is the representative body for the farm machinery industry in Ireland. The membership of the Association compromises over 200 businesses engaged in the manufacture, importation, distribution, retail sale and servicing of farm machinery.
FTMTA Grass & Muck was first held in 2010 and is now a regular biennial event run by FTMTA on alternate years to the FTMTA Farm Machinery Show at Punchestown; both events are run in accordance with the ethos of “organised by the trade for the farmer and contractor”.
It is hoped to continue to build on the success of the previous such events to deliver an even more popular FTMTA Grass & Muck in 2018. FTMTA CEO, Gary Ryan commented that the Association is pleased to once again use the excellent facilities and central location of Gurteen College which has proven to be a such successful site for this event in the past. Ryan added "the Association is delighted that, working in conjunction with our hosts at Gurteen College, it has been possible to add an additional 17 acres to the working grass demonstration for this year's event. This allows us to facilitate previous exhibitors with extra space and to also make space available to some first time exhibitors." The FTMTA advised that, even with the addition of an extra area, all the working grass machinery demonstration plots were fully booked well in advance of the closing date which is a indication of how popular this event has become with the machinery industry. In excess of 120 firms, including many major international and Irish farm machinery manufacturers, will exhibit in one way or another at the event.
The focus at FTMTA Grass & Muck is very much on working machinery with ongoing demonstrations throughout the day in the grass harvesting, reseeding, silage pit, slurry spreading and farm yard manure spreading areas. A large trade village area for non demonstrating exhibitors is also provided in a central position at the event. The demonstration plots give farmers and contractors the best opportunity to assess the many machines in action. This is a unique opportunity to see a wide range of the latest technologies in silage and grass management machinery in operation in Ireland and a variety of new machines from some new suppliers as well as the more established exhibitors will be in action on the day.
The event has proven very popular with exhibitors and the Irish farming public alike with approximately 11,500 visitors in 2016. This year's event is expected to prove even more popular due to the appearance of a number of new machines and ranges such as the McHale rakes.
Approximately 40 of the exhibitors will be active in one or other of the demonstration areas. Demonstrations of various types and brands of silage making equipment will be conducted by over 20 firms on in excess of 100 acres of grass with a number of loader brands demonstrating at the silage pit. There will also be a number of exhibitors demonstrating a variety of slurry and dung spreading equipment on grass ground with a number of other firms demonstrating reseeding equipment on a plot of tilled ground.
Tickets for the event can either be bought on the day or, alternatively, tickets are also available on line from a link on the home page of the FTMTA website at www.ftmta.ie which will take you to the secure ticket sales site. People buying tickets in this way will receive an e-ticket by email. Online tickets will be available at a discounted rate of €15 until May 11th in comparison to the standard charge of €20 on the day.
The Gurteen College site is very centrally located and is accessed from the N52 between Birr and Nenagh. Local Gardai have advised that a no parking zone on access roads will be strictly enforced with a tow away policy on the day. National access to the site will primarily be from the Nenagh and Birr directions and ample free parking will be provided adjacent to site.
The exhibition fields will open to the public at 9am and the event will conclude at 5pm with a variety of quality catering options provided on site. On the site itself, safety is the watchword as always and visitors are asked to take heed of the fact that FTMTA Grass & Muck is a working machinery demonstration and to comply with the instructions of safety officers and stewards.
Please contact FTMTA on 045 409309 or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for further information on the event.
