Time to say Goodbye!

After a good 35 active years with the DLG, I am retiring at the end of March. Since I started at the DLG in 1986, the world – and with it agriculture – has changed enormously. The political upheaval caused by the end of the Soviet Union, the globalisation of the economy or technical developments, for example in electronics, are just a few of the keywords. It was very exciting over many years as an agricultural economist in the DLG's technical work to analyse the effects of these developments and to help develop and communicate adaptation strategies for active farmers.

The now 18 years in charge of EuroTier have been at least just as exciting. The aim was to make the EuroTier brand much better known, especially internationally, after just 5 trade fairs. I am grateful for what has been achieved since then by joining forces not only with a great, highly motivated team at the DLG, but also with exhibitors who have placed their trust in the EuroTier brand. Together we were able to develop EuroTier into the world's leading trade fair for animal production.

The Corona pandemic unfortunately prevented a record EuroTier 2020 (the registration figures a year ago were a reason to hope for this). Even if we all would have liked a "normal" fair with personal exchange: With EuroTier 2021 digital, we were able to jointly develop a new (digital) format to bring exhibitors and customers together and initiate business even in such difficult times. And that gives us courage for the future!

I'd like to thank you for the good cooperation over all these years! Besides business contacts, it has also brought me many very personal contacts that will hopefully last beyond my active time at the DLG.

My successor Ines Rathke (i.rathke@dlg.org) has already gotten off to a great start by designing the digital platform. And so I have no worries about the future development of EuroTier!

Dr. Karl Schlösser, February 2021