Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – Hundreds of people took advantage of last weekend’s nice weather and attended the 27th annual Agri-Business Trade Fair to check out the latest in farm equipment, golf carts, chain saws, pellet stoves and more.
According to Shawn Murchison, executive director of the Fort Fairfield Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the yearly event at The Forum in Presque Isle, this year’s trade fair was another huge success.
“Things went very well,” he said. “The numbers look good and I’ve received a lot of great comments from vendors.
“We had quite a few first-time vendors at this year’s show,’ said Murchison, “and everybody seems pleased with how things have turned out. A lot of people have said that they’ve got interest in their product, a lot of people have sold things at the show, and that’s what the intent is … to promote business in Aroostook County, as well as from far away.”
James Conant of Fort Fairfield, a retired potato farmer, spent time Sunday afternoon talking to Fred Smith of Lockwood Manufacturing in Presque Isle.
“I’ve been to a lot of these shows,” Conant said. “It’s a chance to talk to some people and see what’s changing in the industry. It’s fun to come to and you see a lot of your neighbors.”
Conant said there have been “a lot of changes” over the years in terms of technology.
“Size-wise the equipment is a lot bigger,” he said, noting that back in the late 1960s, “I had kids and Indians as potato pickers. We had a lot of pickers back then.”
Smith said Lockwood Manufacturing featured windrowers, harvesters and planters at the weekend show.
“Years ago, pretty much everybody worked with two-row windrowers, and now we’re up to four,” he said. “It’s changing all the time. There’s farmers in the area that are looking at six-row planters and harvesters.”
Lockwood Manufacturing has been in the Presque Isle area for 30 years, and Smith has been a regular at the Agri-Business Trade Fair.
“We like to bring up the equipment to give people a look at what we carry,” he said, of the six pieces of apparatus on display. “We brought windrowers, bed pilers, and planters.
“The show does create some interest,” said Smith. “There’s a lot of people looking and it gives them some ideas. It might be a little bit early in the season for ground equipment, but we like to have a presence here. It’s good to talk to people and find out what their interests are especially since they’re potential customers.”
Kevin Pinelli of Farmers Harvest Inc. has attended the Agri-Business Trade Fair for several years.
“We’re based in Dover, Delaware,” he said. “We represent about 15 different companies that do potato handling equipment and parts. We’re a dealer for Double L Manufacturing, which I’m trying to promote up here in this part of the area.
“We’ve been coming for about 10 years,” said Pinelli. “I do trade shows all over the country, and I heard about this trade fair by word-of-mouth. Down in my area, North Carolina to New York, we have a lot of Double L equipment, but up here it’s a different situation. Since there was no one up here really servicing the area, I decided to start coming to this trade fair.”
Pinelli was touting the air head harvester, which he said is good for the type of ground found in the county.
“Because of the stones in the ground, Double L developed an air head harvester, which features a shallow secondary chain angle which allows large rocks to travel out the back,” he said. “This show gives us a chance to talk about that piece of equipment, as well as others, with potential buyers.
“We need to make a presence in this area,” said Pinelli. “The problem in my area is that we have less and less farmers, but there’s more up here, so I have to go where the potato growers are. Bubar Farms over in Hartland, New Brunswick, bought the first four-row harvester and it’s working very well for them. Hopefully we’ll have even more success.”
Murchison said while agriculture is still a huge part of the annual tradition, people outside of the agricultural world enjoyed the show.
“We always have a big display of farm equipment and so forth because a lot of farmers still come to this show to talk with the dealers, and it’s been a tradition,” said Murchison, “but we have a lot more of an expanse of items or vendors that deal with the regular consumer, as well, be it a car dealer, cable and Internet provider, golf carts, pellet stoves, lawn mowers, chain saws, etc.
“We had a good representation of a lot of the products that are important to the average consumer,” he said. “Our trade fair stresses the importance of the agricultural business to our community, but also has a wide variety of products and services that are of interest to people outside of the farming industry. That aspect has grown over the years. I’ve got a lot of people who want to come back next year, so we’re very happy with how things went.”
