The DLG Field Days, which takes place every two years at alternating locations in Germany, is attracting increasing international attention. Over 300 companies from 15 countries will be represented at the event, set in 18 hectares of trial field from 19 to 21 June 2012 at the DLG International Crop Production Center in Bernburg-Strenzfeld (Saxony-Anhalt) in Germany.

 

“Participation this year is expected to exceed last year’s record exhibitor attendance by more than 10 percent, with the largest range of offering ever,” says Dr. Reinhard Grandke, CEO of DLG, the organizer of the DLG Field Days exhibition.

 

 

DLG Field Days 2012 promises a strong international flavour, with delegations of crop growers from Chile, China, Poland, Russia and other parts of Europe, and 40 participating media organisations from over 23 countries. Through an export incentive program, the German federal ministry of food agriculture and consumer protection has invited the media to this year’s DLG Field Days for the purpose of covering and showcasing German technologies applicable to the agricultural sectors in the respective countries.

 

For these reasons, an international visitor’s lounge will be set up for the first time at the DLG-Field Days. Located near the east entrance, the lounge will serve as a central meeting point for non-German visitors. Multilingual staff from DLG and DLG International will be on hand to provide visitors with information about DLG Field Days 2012 and various DLG projects.

 

 

Farmers in Europe and CIS countries have signalled positive expectation of the future, according to the latest results of the spring 2012 DLG Trendmonitor, a twice yearly survey conducted among over 3000 farmers from France, Germany, Kazakhstan, Poland, Russia, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. Prices of wheat and rape have been on an uptrend since December 2011, buoyed by steadily increasing world grain demand. A record 2011 global wheat production has done little to dampen market prices. Such ongoing trends mirror the commodities boom year of 2008. Poor winter wheat harvests in Europe and warmer weather drying out wheat harvests from the US to Russia to Australia will continue to prop up prices. No doubt, increasing input costs from fertilisers, crop protection and fuel will be compensated by these firmer prices.

 

Amid these positive price trends, the DLG Trendmonitor Spring 2012 revealed that over half of farmers in Germany are looking to develop their farms through investments, marking a 6 percent increase from last year. While business expectations appeared most positive in Germany, farmers elsewhere also reported improvements in expectations from the spring survey, while some cautious optimism was expressed by Polish farmers.

 

 

Some 70 percent of business farmers in Germany view biological performance as key to their competitiveness. Seed selection is an important factor for yields particularly in the face of a changing climate. An unusually cold February in Germany, France and Poland has proven to be a case in point and new seed varieties resistant to such conditions should continue to be developed. Against this backdrop, the efficient use of diesel, fertiliser and crop protection are becoming increasingly important for competitiveness.

 

An innovations forum for modern plant cultivation, DLG Field Days will showcase modern varieties of commonly cultivated crops in the trial field, along with an extensive selection of supplies and services in the indoor halls. A key attraction once again will be the demonstration trials comparing different European cropping techniques for oilseed rape and wheat. Machinery demonstrations at DLG Field Days 2012 will focus on drilling oilseed rape, precision fertilizing with mineral fertilizer spreaders, precision plant protection with field sprayers, and automatic steering and headland management of tractors, amongst others.

 

There will also be daily forums in German on subjects of topical interest to arable farmers and field forage producers such as energy crops, GMO, sustainability and crop protection.

 

Key attraction - Crop comparisons

 

·         Crop advisors from eight different European countries will demonstrate their cropping techniques for winter wheat or oilseed rape under different physical conditions

·         The teams have sowed the ground for their respective crops since September for rape and October for wheat

·         Comparisons will be made between the final yields, quality and financial margins of each country team under similar arable conditions and variables of weather, soil conditions and sowing time.

·         All measures are documented for analysis and evaluation, and this information will also be available to visitors.

 

Practical machinery demonstrations will take place several times a day covering a range of agronomic needs. Featured at the Field Days will be sprayers for precise crop protection, mineral fertilizer spreaders for site-specific fertilization, tractors for automated steering and headland management as well as equipment for oil seed sowing, among others.

 

Established in 2010, the DLG International Crop Production Center (IPZ) in Bernburg-Strenzfeld (Saxony-Anhalt) is a site for applied research, exhibitions, testing of agricultural machinery and equipment, and seminars. Some 20 DLG expert committees work on research projects related to the IPZ’s thematic areas, with the overall aim of promoting sustainable, progressive and competitive agriculture.

 

The 2012 Field Days are organized jointly by DLG, the Ministry for Agriculture and the Environment of the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, and key agricultural cooperative AGRAVIS Raiffeisen AG.

 

Important partners also include insurance company Vereinigte Hagelversicherung VVaG, the association promoting the use of oil and protein plants (UFOP) and the Federal Agency for Renewable Resources (FNR). Over 20,000 visitors are expected at the three-day event.

Deutche Kreditbank AG.