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 2016 A Huge Success
The long awaited FTMTA Grass & Muck event held at Gurteen College on May 12th was a tremendous success with approximately 11,000 visitors. The considerable efforts of the exhibitors with regard to presentation and display resulted in a fantastic visual spectacle on the day with an impressive array of machinery on site. Those present viewed ongoing demonstrations throughout the day in the grass, reseeding, silage pit, slurry spreading and farm yard manure spreading areas as well as visiting the numerous trade stands.
FTMTA wishes to thank all those who contributed in various ways to the preparation of the site for FTMTA Grass & Muck 2016 in the days and indeed months leading up to the event.
FTMTA wish all farmers and contractors a safe and successful silage season.
