Australian and Italian companies get down to business at EIMA International

The machinery exhibition was an eye-opener for the group and with 1500 exhibitors and a record attendance of 327,100 it was easy to see why.

For Tornado Sprayers spare parts manager Emilio Dias it was an awesome place but also very intense.

"There's so many people to meet and to try and fit it all in is a monumental task," he said.

Tornado Sprayers manufactures agricultural sprayers for vineyards and orchards.

Given it is based in Sydney and Lismore the business also caters to tree nut and olive growers.

It is also a dealer for Antonio Carraro tractors and imports equipment like mulchers.

Mr Dias said he was on the lookout for different technologies to make farmers' jobs easier.

"The main goal of this is to connect with suppliers, see who we deal with and what they have new," he said.

"At this show they showcase what's to come, so for us as business it makes sense to be engaging with them and implementing what's new because it means we are up to date and our customers are up to date."

Swat Winery Supplies purchasing manager Giovanni Battistessa sees the value in partnering with companies that make machines in-house and have the back-up to look after them.

"That's something we do find in Italy; you go to a factory and they are 50 to 100 years old, third generation family factories, so they have a good understanding of the equipment," he said.

While not every machine made in Italy is suitable to Australian farming conditions, he said there was new technology available that could be adopted.

Swat Winery Supplies has been operating for about 30 years and imports wine making equipment from Italy to Australia.

It is based in Western Australia's Swan Valley and Margaret River regions.

After visiting EIMA in 2018, the company also began importing equipment for vineyards.

"Our interest in bringing in these machines came from requests from clients looking at changing the way things are done in vineyards, especially with trying to use no glyphosate in vineyards, so that's what really started us searching for equipment," Mr Battistessa said.

"It all started from specific requests to find equipment; one of the first tractors we brought in for a customer from Italy was just 65cm wide."

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South Burnett Tractor Parts managing director John Dalton was able to catch up with existing suppliers at EIMA and visit their factory during his time in Italy.

But he also made contact with new suppliers and was keen to see how those opportunities progressed.

"I thought the exhibition was really well run and a chance to see how much equipment is produced in Europe," Mr Dalton said.

"Italy itself, it amazes me the amount of gear that is produced here."

South Burnett Tractor Parts is based outside Kingaroy in Queensland and sells retail and wholesale tractor parts Australia-wide.

Just 5 per cent of the company's customers are local and the majority of its business comes from North Queensland, NSW and Victoria.

Making the trip from New Zealand was Waikato Tractors owner Geoff Shuker, who likened attending EIMA to being a kid in a candy store.

Waikato Tractors has two import and distribution companies as well as several dealerships.

Mr Shuker said they operated under two models: importing and selling equipment to dealers as well as importing and selling high-value, lower volume sales equipment direct to the end user.

"We also recently bought a manufacturing business, which is reasonably rare these days down our end of the world," he said.

"It's making a little bit of a comeback with local know-how and some of the specialised laser cutting equipment, robot welders, we can do things at home pretty competitively again all of a sudden so that's opened a few doors.

"This is a really good component show so we're looking for a lot of components for that business as well."

Italian Trade Agency Australia and New Zealand trade analyst Andrea Tenconi said there were many opportunities for Australia and New Zealand to partner with Italy.

Mr Tenconi accompanied the delegates during their visit to EIMA and said the exhibition had showcased the breadth of production of agricultural machinery on offer.

"Italy is so open to other countries, not just when we think about international trade but we are a friendly people and country," he said.

"We would love to export our knowledge, our technology that has got such a big history, and grow together with other countries such as Australia and New Zealand that maybe have a more recent history and the economy is growing faster."