“The university provides development capacity and knowledge base for tackling the tasks in the agricultural sector both at the national and the international level. In addition, it also generates a workforce that is superbly qualified to ensure that this development should be as dynamic as possible,” said Vice Rector András Jávor at the opening ceremony of Farmer Expo on Thursday.
The University of Debrecen has actively participated right from the beginning in the preparation and implementation of the exposition, marking its silver jubilee this year. So it is not only the premises but also the professional background that our institution continues to furnish for the expo year after year. For example, the top-notch quality animal shows have been facilitated for the past 20 years through the assistance of the staff and faculty of Department of Livestock Breeding.
“25 years ago, we set off on a path, which let us put next to the four-day exhibition of goods a range of professional and academic events which contain the most recent scientific information with which the growers and producers can enrich their repository of knowledge in order to be able to work more efficiently. The intellectual background supplied by the University of Debrecen presented a very good opportunity for us to host these events,” said Director László Vaszkó.
Zoltán Pajna, President of the county assembly, believes that this fair can provide a lot of help for agricultural holdings that are lagging behind in the use of recent technologies and knowledge transfer to break even. Mayor László Papp has emphasized how important this event for the city of Debrecen is, as it fully conforms to the philosophy in the municipal development plan. In addition, Farmer Expo has grown into the most significant agricultural exposition outside the capital city. About thirty thousand visitors are expected to attend the largest agricultural exhibition in Eastern Hungary this year, who will get a chance to roam about the expo premises on a total of 3000 square meters of paved road surface, thanks to the recent developments implemented by the university.
The President of Agriculture and Rural Development Agency reckons that, through the support of the university, this expo is a true reflection of the diversity and high quality that characterizes Hungarian agriculture.
“This exhibition is in a very favorable position, as it is backed by an institution of higher education with top-quality education and research features, through which the innovative scientific achievements of the University of Debrecen can be easily channeled into everyday practice,” said Csaba Gyuricza.
Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture awarded a special prize to Karcag Research Institute of the University, chiefly for its innovative academic work, from which the local agricultural holdings can surely benefit a lot in practice.
According to Zsolt Feldman, Deputy State Secretary for Agriculture, knowledge, innovation, and cooperation make this sector stronger, which also means a sort of preparation for and consequent immunity against external changes.
“The community that has launched Farmer Expo in Debrecen and operates the agriculture of this region and food industry is able to implement the kind of cooperation on the campus of the University of Debrecen and in the broader surrounding region which facilitates this work,” said the DSS.
The Deputy Speaker of the Hungarian National Assembly thanked the University of Debrecen for its professional assistance provided by hosting this event for the past two decades.
“These past 25 years meant an opportunity for the individual agricultural entrepreneurs to access new information, knowledge, and experience in order to ensure the development of their holdings. Special thanks should go to the University for sharing its professional background and taking the initiative in the cooperation,” said István Jakab.
At the 25th Jubilee Farmer Expo, held between August 18th and 24th, there are going to be almost three hundred exhibitors present on the Böszörményi úti campus of the university. This year, too, the teaching staff and graduate students of the doctoral program of Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management are to give lectures and presentations at the meetings and professional symposia held during the course of the event. This time, their talks are scheduled to be on topics like state-of-the-art vegetable and fruit growing technologies, tenders and application possibilities for state-funded support aimed at improving the fruit growing sector, and the position and perspectives of the processing industry, while the afternoon sections will focus on field demonstrations held at the Experimental Site of the university located in Kismacs.
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