Mark McConaghie, National Diploma in Land Based Technology, Greenmount Campus, CAFRE

On Sunday evening 22 February the final year Land Based Technology students at Greenmount Campus headed off for our study tour to the huge, SIMA agricultural machinery show in Paris.

After a good nights’ sleep in our rather ‘cosy’ accommodation we had our first taste of French breakfasts which consisted of rolls, ham and croissants but no fried food much to some people’s disappointment. We quickly got over this and set off for the exhibition.  

The SIMA Machinery Show is held in eight large halls interlinked in an enormous complex.  Each hall was filled with the latest machinery for all aspects of farming from livestock to arable to renewable energy.  In the afternoon we went to a farm that had installed 588 square meters of solar panels on the roof of a new timber framed house. The farmer explained how the system worked and how much he was paid for producing renewable energy.  

In the evening we went for a tour around Paris and took the lift to the top of the Eiffel Tower where we had some amazing views of the city.

On Tuesday we visited the International Parts Distribution Centre for New Holland and it was very interesting to see how 10,000 parts a day are distributed from one store.  Parts ordered before 6 pm anywhere in Europe are delivered to the dealer by 9 am the next day.  It was fascinating to see how a parts distribution service works on such a large scale.

Wednesday was spent back at the SIMA show to visit more halls with lots of makes of machinery that we had never heard of and which are not available in the UK. The show is so big it would take two full days to see around it properly.  It was also a great opportunity to see and hear about the latest machinery developments from manufacturers instead of reading about them in the farming press.  After a long day at the Show we headed back to the airport for the return flight home.  We were all very tired but it was a brilliant three day tour!