In October 2024, the 10th anniversary International Specialized Exhibition of Agricultural Equipment AGROSALON will take place, the main professional event in Russia for demonstrating innovative technical and technological solutions in the agro-industrial complex.

The first exhibition took place in 2008, but it is held every two years, on even years, which means it is already 16 years old. We live in a time when familiar things are rapidly changing. In Russia, agriculture, the attitude towards work in the agro-industrial complex, mechanical engineering, and exhibition activities have changed. We decided to talk about all these changes with Alla Elizarova, head of the AGROSALON exhibition.

— It is now generally accepted that the era of digitalization has arrived, which was greatly facilitated by the 2020 pandemic. Many have gone online - most of the media, conferences, training courses. Has this trend affected AGROSALON?

— Firstly, exhibitions provide an opportunity for consumers and manufacturers to meet, and such communication is a search for ways to solve applied problems, discussion of new ideas and technologies. You won’t get such useful communication at online events! At offline events, you can demonstrate your products in all their glory and from all sides, the consumer can see, touch, and test them. This is a big plus before purchasing equipment or any other product. Exhibition activities are a carrier of entrepreneurial values. The results of marketing research show that the costs of companies for concluding a contract through exhibitions are three to four times less than achieving the same result by other means.

Secondly, large international exhibitions are a unique tool for social marketing and dialogue between the public and business circles. Attending business events under the auspices of AGROSALON provides an opportunity to communicate and exchange views with representatives of ministries and departments, government agencies and public associations, which influences the formation of industrial policy. And this is very important, since we talk a lot about the development of agricultural machinery production, but many of their Moscow offices do not see what is really happening in our sector now.

We understand that government support is needed and we invite leaders and representatives of relevant ministries and departments to demonstrate the achievements of Russian and global mechanical engineering trends, talk about the current situation in the industry and receive the necessary help and support. Without it, it is now very difficult for agricultural producers and machine builders to work and move forward.

When you are in a live dialogue, it will never compare to an online dialogue. This is confirmed by the large number of visitors to conferences and training events as part of the business program of the AGROSALON exhibition.

In addition to all of the above, the AGROSALON exhibition is a kind of opportunity to demonstrate and study the market of modern mechanical engineering, new trends and new technologies. Opportunity to discuss pressing issues. In addition, the exhibition always brings premieres and new products, so this year we decided to celebrate them with awards from the new competition “Star AGROSALON”. So fashionable “digitalization” is simply a form of communication and a way to promote and convey the necessary information to participants and exhibitors.

— What, in your opinion, is the state of the exhibition industry in Russia as a whole?

— At the moment, more applications have been submitted than there were companies at the exhibition in 2022. So we can already talk about positive dynamics. We have exceeded the area we had in 2022, although we still have time to prepare for the exhibition. Companies want to participate, and the technology block is large and interesting. By the way, there is a noticeable active growth in the participation of companies in the “Agrocomponent” section. Almost all the participants of the last exhibition showed up, plus many new companies appeared. Manufacturers of equipment and components need to make themselves known and show off their products.

AGROSALON is an ideal platform for meeting and dialogue between machine builders and component manufacturers. We can say that the “Agrocomponent” section at the AGROSALON site forms the component market, since it gives exhibitors the opportunity to present the company and its product, and also provides personal contact with the target audience of potential buyers.

— All long-term projects undergo changes, that’s why they are successful. Can you tell us how participants and visitors to nine exhibitions have changed over 16 years?

— The global change is that European companies actively participated in the first exhibitions, and now more and more Russian ones. At the same time, the areas of some foreign companies are being reduced, while the areas of Russian companies are increasing. Of course, Chinese companies are showing great interest. Here we can draw an analogy and say that AGROSALON reflects the political picture of the world.

By the way, the exhibitors have also changed - previously there were only machinery and equipment, but now the exhibitors have added “smart” and technological solutions for the agro-industrial complex. So our exhibition keeps up with the times...  As for the visitors, they have also changed during this time. For us, the main visitor is the person working on the land. Now we see that many young people are coming to the agricultural sector, although proven personnel are actively working and have become more progressive over the past 10 years. Today's visitors are preparing for exhibitions and business events. They know what they want to see, what to ask, what to pay attention to. They are preparing for conferences in order to take an active part in them and discuss pressing issues. This trend emerged after pandemic restrictions, which gave impetus to a more conscious approach to events. No wonder. An important advantage that AGROSALON provides is the opportunity for any visitor to meet with the manager, owner, chief designer and engineer of the exhibitor's factories. Even the largest enterprise.

— AGROSALON is held every two years. What is the reason for this frequency? The bulk of Russian exhibitions are held once a year...

— The exhibition was created on the initiative of domestic manufacturers of agricultural machinery and representatives of large European brands in Russia, who met in 2007 and unanimously decided that they needed their own exhibition - a Russian analogue of Agritechnica, with the same focus and with the same frequency. The Rosspetsmash Association (at that time the Soyuzagromash Association) organized such an exhibition.

AGROSALON is not just an exhibition of agricultural machinery, it is a demonstration site for new mechanical engineering products in the agro-industrial complex and a presentation of technical innovations for more productive and efficient crop production. Not all machine manufacturers are ready to release new products every year; moreover, this frequency was suggested by European international sites. And then, exhibitions are, of course, excellent advertising tools, but expensive. We treat our exhibitors and their advertising budgets with attention and understanding, and this is also a good reason to hold AGROSALON once every two years.

— How have you changed as organizers of the AGROSALON exhibition?

— It’s better to ask our exhibitors who have been participating in the exhibition for a long time about this. It's always clearer from the outside. Our goal is to make the exhibition comfortable for participants and attract as many visitors and clients as possible. Only the exhibitors can say whether we can cope with this task. It is always difficult to give an objective assessment to ourselves.

— Many events have happened recently - sanctions, pandemic, SVO. AGROSALON has never been cancelled. And it was always held at the appointed time, with a large number of participants and visitors. How did you manage to do this, since many exhibitions were canceled or postponed?

— We have gone through difficult years. Since AGROSALON takes place every two years, in 2020 we were hit by a pandemic, and in 2022 the exhibition coincided with mobilization. During the pandemic year, just in October, there was a short period when events were allowed to take place. With restrictions, but allowed.Accordingly, those who were not afraid of the pandemic came to us. We were not very lucky in 2022, since mobilization was announced on the eve of the exhibition. That's when there was a big failure in visitors. Even already formed delegations refused to travel to Moscow. But those who came saw a lot of interesting and new things for themselves, were able to meet partners and clients and thus supported the AGROSALON exhibition. Many exhibitions were cancelled, but not AGROSALON... It was hard, but we managed.

— Which exhibition was the most memorable for you and why exactly?

— The first exhibition is the most memorable, because we did not understand at all how it would work, what would come of it, and how everything would go. This was our first time organizing such a global event, and for us it was something new and incomprehensible. And there weren’t very many examples of such exhibitions. For example, by that time we had not had time to visit the European exhibition Agritechnica. But we had to do something - I don’t know what.

I don’t know where to go there. Thanks to the experience of the first exhibition, we realized that we must work further to make the exhibition better, more successful and more interesting. And now we can say with confidence that everything worked out thanks to the help, support and interest of the first participants who actively helped us in organizing the project. We are grateful to our exhibitors who have taken and are taking part in the AGROSALON exhibition over all these years. The interest of visitors and the active work of exhibitors at the stands force us to be disciplined and each time improve the level of organization of the exhibition.

— What surprises await visitors to the AGROSALON-2024 exhibition?

— Surprises are surprises: come and see!