Interviews

	SIMA 2009 SIMA 2007

SIMA 2009

PATRICK PERARD , Director of PERARD
Could you describe what you do in a few words?
Twenty years ago this year, we were present in the farming machinery market as a harvesting and transport equipment manufacturer. We built up the company with the idea of diversifying from farming into machine production, and manufactured our first oilseed rape cutter bars in 1988.
We have always aimed at a strategy of innovation based on niche products, with a varied range: for example, cutter bars, cutter carriers, transport platforms, silage facer buckets and travelling platforms.
And every product we make has its own Pérard specificity!

What is your export strategy, and to which countries?
We export 70% of our production, a large part of it to Germany. However, over the last few years our exports have literally exploded! Our customer catchment area has no borders now, and we can be present in a number of Eastern European countries, as well as Russia and Kazakhstan.

How does SIMA work as a tool to aid this strategy?
As a showcase for farming machinery, SIMA provides a marvellous opportunity to meet a lot of foreign prospects and customers: today the exhibition is really strategic for our company! We meet customers from a wide variety of backgrounds, and also present our equipment to farmers, enabling us to exchange with them and understand their requirements better.
For example, inn 2007, we met a group of Russian farmers, and we are now working with them.

What equipment are you planning to show at SIMA 2009? Any innovations?
At SIMA 2009, we shall be presenting a new manure spreader.
This equipment has innovative technological solutions making it possible to increase the efficiency and quality of the work. In fact, we are thinking of entering for the SIMA Innovations Awards with this new product. That way, we hope to attack the manure spreading market from a new angle.

Can you give me three words to describe SIMA?
If I had to describe SIMA, I'd first of all say "Showcase".
When you exhibit at SIMA, it's to show the best side of yourself, and present your equipment... Our image ought to reach new heights through our stand!
The second word that comes to mind is "International".
As I was saying earlier, SIMA has established itself as a truly essential, world-class event.
And to finish up with, "Professional", because apart from highly qualified visitors, we also have the chance to talk to our colleagues in the equipment sector, which helps us to develop our ranges ad respond to demand more effectively.

Ms. Geneviève DESROZIERS, Sales Manager - SEFL CLIMAT MORVAN
You are a sales manager at Self Climat Morvan. Could you describe what you do in a few words?
We've been making log wood boilers for 40 years and would like to make our brand, MORVAN, the FRENCH manufacturer of reference in alternative biomass energy.

For whom are your products mainly intended?
Private individuals with a wood supply source that lets them immediately secure a return on their investment. The heating professionals network sells and installs our boilers (wholesalers - installers).

You took part in the first Agriculture & Energy Area at SIMA 2007 and are coming back in 2009. What will you show at your stand?
Our traditional range of reverse-flame natural draft wood boilers, a boiler that uses two energy sources, wood and granules, and a ventilated wood boiler.

What is the main reason you want to exhibit at SIMA 2009?
Our participation in SIMA has become a must because of the visitors' quality and level.

Ms. Adeline HAUMONT, Engineer Project Manager - BIOGAS NORD
You are an Engineer Project Manager at BIOGAS NORD. Could you describe what you do in a few words?
We set up turnkey methanisation facilities. Our main customers are local governments, farmers and food manufacturers. We offer a full-range service that includes all the methanisation projects' stages, from project engineering and design to feasibility, construction, start-up and maintenance.

You have already participated in SIMA as a visitor. What stands out most in your mind about your visit in 2007?
The visit to SIMA 2007 reaped a bountiful harvest of contacts and helped to establish closer relationships with our partners. In 2009 we will participate as exhibitors.

In your opinion, what is the SIMA exhibition's main advantage?
Many professionals visit SIMA, which puts us into direct contact with a big part of our clientele in a more global context that is different from the day-to-day business environment.

What do you expect from your first time as an exhibitor?
Biogas-Nord's agricultural run-off recycling activity is still poorly known. Our goal in taking part in the exhibition is to forge closer ties with farmers and other professionals in the search for solutions to environmental and economic challenges.

What are you going to show at your stand?
We're going to present BIOGAS NORD's offer in France, inform farmers about methanisation growth possibilities in the French context and present our facilities' technology.

SIMA 2007

Philippe ESTANOVE, Director of BCMA
What were the main trends in Sima 2007?
There's a great deal I could say about that aspect, as this year's SIMA was particularly rich in innovations. However, in brief, there were two trends that I thought particularly important:
- The automation of repetitive tasks, combined with GPS, making it possible for farmers to avoid tedious, monotonous driving. They can then concentrate on adjusting their tools or machines. With this technology, we can get a picture of the type of agricultural robot that will be working in our fields in the future.
- The development of biomass, as farmers will need to produce energy as well as food. A small revolution is now taking place, as we are going to have to adapt our farms, machines and consumption habits to the inevitable fact that one day fossil fuels will be exhausted, and we have to find the means to replace them.
SIMA 2007 presented some highly interesting innovations concerning these two areas, which foreshadow tomorrow's farming through the machines we use.

Eric MAGGIAR, Farmer (59)
328 hectares of wheat/canola seed/beetroot
What was the purpose of your visit to SIMA 2007?
First and foremost, SIMA is an exhibition that I go to regularly - for the last 25 years! It's an exhibition with a friendly atmosphere, and I mainly go to it in order to find out about the latest products.  

I use it to arrange meetings, so that I can get up to date with suppliers and manufacturers together. It's also an ideal time to seek out and have discussions with possible future customers.

Jocelyn JONCOUR, Holstein exhibitor
Winner of the 2007 Breeding Challenge  99 Holstein cows - 220 hectares

What led you to take part in the breeding challenge?
I took part in the Breeding Challenge because I found the questionnaire highly relevant and professional. I found it a very satisfying experience, because the challenge made it possible to put the spotlight on our work, which normally remains totally anonymous, and to associate our company name with high quality. 

Why did you exhibit at SIMA/SIMAGENA?
I am a very loyal exhibitor: I have been taking part in the trade fair ever since SIMAGENA first started!I exhibit there for three main reasons:Free entry to the competition, the exhibition's wide international influence, and the exclusively professional positioning. In a word, it's the perfect exhibition for doing business. In practical terms, the 2007 session enabled me to sell heifers and embryos to customers from France, Spain and Belgium.   

What were the strong points of SIMA 2007?

The competitions at the Ring, which are becoming increasingly professional, and the quality of the contacts I was able to make, which included breeders from South Africa, Morocco and Algeria.

Luciano ARROBIO, President of Atima  Association of Farming Entrepreneurs of the Asti province (Piemont)
We visited the SIMA exhibition on 4 March 2007.
We were favourably impressed by the extension of the trade fair (an exhibition area three times bigger than at the Bologna fair). In the exhibition itself, we were able to find special machines and agricultural equipment for large scale work, or designed for very extensive farming areas.

Our visit to SIMA was extremely interesting and instructive, and as a result, the Association will probably be making another trip to SIMA in 2009!