International guests travel to Decatur for the Farm Progress Show

DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) - Each Farm Progress Show in Decatur, people travel from across the state, country and world to see the latest and greatest in farming technology.

This year, the Decatur Area Convention and Visitors Bureau planned for 48 countries to be represented at the show. Executive Director Teri Hammel said it is a long planning process to get visitors from across the globe to Central Illinois. 

"We started in January, technically, to take care of the embassy letters and the requests from all the countries to be able to come and partake in the show," Hammel said. "So there's 48 countries and 433 letters that are mailed out."

WAND News spoke to international travelers at the show this year to learn why they made the trip to the show.  

Ulrike Schmidt-Machinek visited the show with the BLG German Agricultural Society. She is part of a team that plans international conventions for the dairy industry in Canada and Germany. 

"This has been the ideal weather for an outdoor show, and now I can say I have seen Illinois from the air," Schmidt-Machinek said. "It's gold and green all over the floor with the fields from the sky." 

Claudia Taha was part of a group of farmers from Brazil who hoped to learn more about American agricultural practices. Like Illinois, Brazil is a primary exporter of corn and soybeans. 

"Agriculture is the core business of both countries, so there is a lot of room for exchange of information," Taha said. "So you guys bring some different ideas or different practices that maybe they are going to learn from. And the other way around, I think this exchange promotes a unique opportunity to feed the world."  

Not all travelers are in the agricultural business. Revanth Pulamolu is from India, but is studying in Illinois. He used his time at the Farm Progress Show to learn more about the agriculture industry. 

"I'm studying bio processing and bioenergy, and I also have a bachelor's degree in agricultural sciences," Pulamolu said. "I'm more inclined towards farm machinery, farm equipment [and] agricultural in general. So I just wanted to see what are the strides that people are making in the field of biomanufacturing agriculture."