Don’t miss the 2018 Agriculture and Forestry Expo (AGFO) which takes place at the Casterbridge Lifestyle Centre in White River, Mpumalanga, from 8 to 10 November 2018.

“Over the past two years the AGFO Expo has become renowned as a successful trade platform for the agriculture and forestry industries and this year’s expo will offer these industries so much more,” says Joey Lascelles, AGFO Expo Chairperson.

This year, AGFO will host a Fire-Tech day on Thursday 8 November, which will include demonstrations of and discussions around various fire equipment and products and their uses. Topics include risk mapping: fire and managing the landscape; climate change and fire spread and behaviour; computer generated wind and weather modelling to predict the potential spread of fire; detection and managing forest fires: physical lookout tower, camera, satellite, drone and remote sensing etc; the ops rooms and fire prediction modelling within forestry: use of fire stats, fire trends, on the ground intelligence and weather to predict potential fire events; fire tenders, strike craft, fire equipment and fire-fighting personnel: an integrated approach to successful fire suppression; suppressants, applicators and the way forward; and the latest on pumps hoses and nozzles.

AGFO and SAMAC will host the Macadamia Industry Day at the expo on Friday 9 November. World-renowned plant pathologist from Australia, Dr André Drenth, will be the keynote speaker. Other speakers include Dr Gerda Fourie from the Macadamia Protection Programme; Willem Steyn, from the ARC: entomopathogenic nematodes; economist Dr Roelof Botha: the impact of land expropriation; Theunis Smit: macadamia water use; and Juan Winter, from Source: benchmarking in the macadamia industry.

The VIP networking event - for SAMAC Industry Day attendees and AGFO Expo exhibitors and sponsors only - will take place on Friday evening.

This year’s expo will also include equipment demonstrations and a chainsaw competition. Forestry companies and harvesting contractors are encouraged to enter their teams into the chainsaw competitions to stand a chance to win great prizes and to walk away with the floating trophy sponsored by Rudamans Nelspruit.

Members of the public can enjoy various competitions, including tug of war, axe chopping, pit saw and boeresport.

Bring the family and relax in our ‘Chill Zone’ beer tent and enjoy a traditional South African braai and entertainment from local bands on Saturday.

There are a variety of open air and indoor stands available to suit each exhibitor’s needs and they are encouraged to secure their space early to unlock maximum exposure leading up to the expo.

A comprehensive range of sponsorship opportunities, geared to driving sales and showcasing products and brands before and during the event, are also available.

Sponsors already onboard for AGFO 2018 include Agricolleges International and Mascor (prestige sponsors); Ezigro Seedlings (diamond sponsor); Novon Retail Company and Systeco Automation (gold sponsors) and Adama, Silvix Forestry, United Forest Products and Agrimotion (silver sponsors).

For more information about AGFO 2018 and bookings for the SAMAC Industry Day and Fire-Tech Day, visit www.agfo.co.za or Facebook: @AgfoExpo; email admin@agfo.co.za or contact 082 854 6155.