An Examination of the Agriculture and Technology Days Fair in Terms of the Development of Open Field Applied Agricultural Exhibitions

‘‘Agriculture and Technology Days Fair’’ has introduced a new dimension to agricultural fair organization by bringing together the theme of agriculture and technology together in the open field. Producers are informed about the current technological developments and agricultural systems in the agricultural sector at the “Agriculture and Technology Days Fair”. Producers can see the innovations with different and informative events organized in the fields of fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, agricultural mechanization, etc. within the scope of the fair and have the opportunity to apply the latest technological developments immediately through the demonstration areas prepared in the fair area. During the fair, communication and interaction between producers takes place in a practical area, so that producers can share their opinions, experiences, expectations and problems instantly and on site. In this study, ‘‘Agriculture and Technology Days Fair’’ was evaluated from the perspective of the companies participating in the fair in terms of the development of open field applied fair in agriculture, and their expectations and suggestions from the fair were examined. For this purpose, a face-to-face survey was conducted with 51 company officials who participated in the ‘‘Agriculture and Technology Days Fair’’ in Tekirdağ province in 2024. As a result of the study, it was determined that the participating companies rented an average of 275.80 m2 of space in other fairs and 291.18 m2 in the ‘‘Agriculture and Technology Days Fair’’. It was determined that the participants made the fair announcements mostly through social media (78.43%) and that they considered social media (84.31%) as the most effective method in fair announcement. Expanding the exhibition area and/or increasing the application area of the companies and increasing the location of the companies in the exhibition area were found to be important. The organisers of the fair were found to be successful, however, it was determined that the information about the participating companies and the shows to be held during the fair should be increased before the fair. ''Agriculture and Technology Days Fair'' should be taken into consideration with its contribution to the marketing of agricultural products, demonstration of agricultural innovations and agricultural dissemination. ''Agriculture and Technology Days Fair'' should be developed with its significant permanent contribution to producer incomes in the long term in rural areas and its contribution to rural areas in economic, social and cultural terms by creating alternative income opportunities such as tourism during the fair.