Several thousand people convened in Orlando, Florida this week for the inaugural AG CONNECT Expo. The show kicked off for the general public this morning and so far attendees and exhibitors alike have been impressed.
The AG CONNECT Expo is unique compared to other ag shows in the states in that it is one of the first attempts to bring the global agriculture industry together to discuss the future including challenges, opportunities, new technologies and research and also address how countries and companies can work together to aid developing countries with their agriculture programs and initiatives.
The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) is hosting the conference and Charlie O’Brien, AEM’s VP of Agricultural Services spent some time with Mike Adams, host of AgriTalk. AgriTalk broadcasted its entire show live this morning from the CASE IH booth.
O’Brien discussed the show in length and gave AgriTalk’s listeners a few points of interest. More than 40 countries are represented here and 20 percent of the total attendees are from outside of the United States. There are delegates from 20 countries here, with 16 organized by the U.S. Department of Commerce. There are more than 40 supporting organizations taking part in the Expo from more than a dozen countries including China, Russia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, UK, India, and Argentina. And before the week is over, more than 30 education seminars will have been given with 60 percent of the attendees participating.
You can follow the event right here on AgWired.com as well as on AG CONNECT’s website at www.agconnect.com. You can also click here to visit our event photo album on Flickr.
The crowd of attendees here at AG CONNECT Expo is pretty diverse as you might expect at a major agricultural trade show. We’ve got lots of international visitors and exhibitors.
I think we had a great crowd for the opening ceremony of the first ever AG CONNECT Expo. The Chapin Theater here at the Convention Center is a beautiful facility.
We had a great tweetup here at AG CONNECT Expo tonight. Thanks to AGCO for sponsoring it.
AG CONNECT Expo is officially underway. The opening ceremonies featured the winners of the Agvocating for Agriculture awards seen on stage with the committee members who put the show together.
Thank you to everyone who watched the live stream of the opening ceremonies from the first ever AG CONNECT Expo. My iPhone streamed live for about an hour and a half. Feel free to post any comments/feedback if you watched.
Chad Yagow, John Deere, (r) already has his picture on AgWired but he gets another one. At the AETC luncheon today he was presented with the AETC MVP award. Yes, that’s a baseball bat. I guess that’s so he can keep conference attendees in line.