News Releases for September 2007
September 11, 2007
For further information, please Contact Jeff Zent, jeff@ndto.com, (701) 235-3638
Hoeven, Officials Launch Big Iron Farm Show's First-Ever International Visitors Program
The Big Iron Farm Show & Exposition will become a world-class event this year with the introduction of the show’s International Visitors Program. Gov. John Hoeven, along with state and federal officials, today helped launch Big Iron’s international events, which are being held Sept. 10-13.
Organizers of the Big Iron Farm Show, in conjunction with the North Dakota Trade Office and U.S. Commercial Service, have recruited 130 key buyers of agricultural equipment from seven foreign countries to attend this year’s show.
The North Dakota Trade Office and U.S. Commercial Service have identified and recruited major equipment distributors, large farm managers and other key equipment buyers from Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Uzbekistan, Russia, the Republic of Georgia and Canada.
“The International Visitors Program, sponsored by the North Dakota Trade Office, is an effective way of leveraging the draw of Big Iron to build on North Dakota’s growing global reach. This program is an important part of a much larger state effort to expand North Dakota’s export sales in the international marketplace,” Hoeven said.
The equipment distributors and farm managers from high-demand foreign markets will attend Big Iron and participate in four days of special events designed to generate business for North Dakota’s agricultural equipment manufacturers and dealers. The International Visitors Program includes a tour of Fargo’s CNH tractor plant, buyer-seller receptions, field demonstrations and one-on-one meetings with North Dakota equipment manufacturers and dealers.
“The International Visitors Program will allow us to make some very important connections so that our agricultural equipment manufacturers and dealers can further expand their export sales in high-demand markets,” said James Burgum, a Trade Office account manager and coordinator of the International Visitors Program.
Last year, North Dakota businesses sold $1.5 billion in merchandise to buyers in foreign countries. North Dakota exports of machinery represented 54 percent ($817 million) of all the international sales, the U.S. Department of Commerce reports.
Guests at Big Iron and the International Visitors Program will include Alexy Kirillov, president of Yugtekhkomplekt, one of Russia’s largest distributors of agricultural equipment and parts, and David Khatiashvili, a major supplier of farm equipment and agricultural production financing in the Republic of Georgia.
Several Former Soviet Union states rank among the world’s most high-demand markets for agricultural equipment. In those countries collective farms have given way to giant corporate-type farms, but a chronic lack of modern farm equipment remains a major obstacle to developing their agriculture sectors, the U.S. Commercial Service reports.
Ukraine is North Dakota’s seventh largest export market, with agricultural machinery representing most of all the state’s export sales. Ukraine’s imports of North Dakota machinery have increased from $256,000 in sales in 2001 to $34 million last year. Machinery exports to Kazakhstan, North Dakota’s eighth largest export market, have increased from zero in 2001 to $28 million last year. And machinery exports to Russia have increased from $961,000 in 2001 to this year’s to-date sales of $20 million.
Big Iron, an annual agricultural equipment show held in West Fargo, N.D., features more than 800 exhibitors and attracts more than 70,000 visitors each year. Big Iron 2007 will be held Sept. 11-13. The show’s International Visitors Program will begin Sept. 10.
Plans are to build on Big Iron’s first-ever International Visitors Program and offer it every year, Burgum said.
For more information about Big Iron’s International Visitors Program contact:
Jeff Zent
jeff@ndto.com
(701) 235-3638
For more information about the Big Iron Farm Show contact:
Chaun Merkens
info@redrivervalleyfair.com
(701) 282-2200
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