MOULTRIE — After attending five earlier farm shows, equipment sales manager Michael Sosebee is optimistic about the company’s prospects at Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition.
Expo’s gates open at 8:30 a.m. today through Thursday. The show closes at 5 p.m. today and Wednesday and at 4 p.m. on Thursday.
Sosebee, who works at Chandler Equipment Co., headquartered in Gainesville, Ga., thinks that despite a slow economy farmers are still looking to purchase needed farm machinery.
Good weather for the week will keep many farmers in the fields harvesting, but Sosebee still expects a good number will show up.
“I think tomorrow will be a good day,” he said Monday. “The people that are here are going to be people who are interested in the equipment.”
Chandler, which sells fertilizer and poultry litter spreaders, has been at Expo every year since its inception with the exception of one or two years, Sosebee said. The company’s market includes all of the United States and it also has sales in Canada, China, Japan and Mexico.
Sosebee said that traffic and interest at the previous five farm shows he has attended has been good.
“For us, this is our number one show,” he said of Expo. At previous shows, “people were optimistic. If they can get the crops out of the field there will be money spent on equipment.”
Company products on display range from $2,500 to $125,000.
For Wesley Lawrence of St. Petersburg, Fla., Expo presents an opportunity to see how farming has changed from the past to the present. At a row of antique tractors, Lawrence had a 1918 engine used by his father at his Michigan farm. The International Model “M” three-horse power engine was used to power milking machines, a feed grinder and a corn sheller.
The kerosene-fueled engine still runs and he will crank it up several times over the three days, he said.
Lawrence’s son, Don Lawrence of Bronson, Fla., was nearby with a 1957 Ford 600 model tractor.
“We like to come here to see the old stuff and the new stuff, see the different things in agriculture,” Wesley Lawrence said.
Among the events on top for Tuesday at Expo are:
• Peanut Proud & Feeding Georgia ribbon cutting at 10:15 a.m. at exhibition area WC-9
• Deans of the College of Agriculture cow milking contest at 2:30 p.m. at F-7
• NASCAR’s Jeff Burton at the Lenox exhibit from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at E-4
Also on Tuesday USDA Undersecretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Michael Scuse, and North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Troxler will attend the Swisher Sweets/Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year luncheon.
Field demonstrations that show real equipment in action will be held each day in the show’s field area. This also includes the opportunity for those interested in new equipment to get behind the wheel.
Expo admission is $10 for ages 13 and up and free for those 12 and under. A three-day admission pass is $20.
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Expo begins today
Farm show exhibitors express optimism
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