ATLANTA — More than 31,000 visitors from throughout the U.S. and the world, including many representing Northeast Georgia companies, attended the 2018 International Production and Processing Expo in Atlanta last week.
The Expo took over Halls B and C at the Georgia World Congress Center, expanding to 520,000 square feet with 1,200 exhibitors showcasing the latest in technology and materials used by the poultry, meat, egg and feed industries.
Among the visitors was U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, who spoke at the Poultry Market Intelligence Forum held Wednesday. Perdue, a former Georgia governor and a farmer, also visited the Expo trade floor and met with some of the FFA students attending the Expo.
The IPPE has been recognized by Trade Show News Network as one of the top 25 fastest-growing shows in net square footage. The Expo has seen a 15 percent growth in net square footage from 2014 to 2016.
Helping to account for this increase and TSNN’s recognition is the fact that the Expo has become a collaboration of three shows: International Poultry Expo sponsored by U.S. Poultry & Egg Association; International Feed Expo sponsored by the American Feed Industry Association; and the International Meat Expo sponsored by the North American Meat Institute.
All segments of the poultry, feed and meat industries were represented, including feed milling, hatchery, egg production, live production, processing, further processing and rendering.
The industries are not only promoted on the trade floor, but also in varied educational sessions presented by the three sponsoring groups. The 2018 Expo featured 80 separate educational sessions on all aspects of the poultry, feed and meat industries. Topics included worker safety, pet food, exporting, biosecurity, animal welfare, robotics, wastewater treatment and packaging trends.
The IPPE will return in 2019 to again showcase industry innovations and improvements at the Georgia World Congress Center. Because Atlanta will be host to the 2019 Super Bowl, the dates for the IPPE have moved from the usual late January dates to Feb. 12-14.
Show organizers noted that many resources are tied up by the National Football League in the host city of the Super Bowl, “which resulted in the move from our traditional show dates of the fourth week of January.
“With the Super Bowl scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 3, we worked with the city of Atlanta to find the best possible date to host the 2019 IPPE without disruption of services normally provided during the week of the trade show,” IPPE show organizers added.
