The 2014 show has attracted 2,360 exhibitors from 49 countries with 1,147 coming from outside of Germany.

While many are companies from traditional European areas, with 186 from the Netherlands and 136 from France there is also a strong representation from China with 116 exhibitors.

Exhibition organisers DLG said that the strong international representation indicates the growing globalisation of the agricultural sector.

DLG said that faced with more stringent legal, economic and social conditions, farmers must more than ever carry out intelligent and long-term investment planning.

“It is precisely when the social and market environment is most difficult that a company’s potential needs to be exploited by investing efficiently and acting intelligently,” said DLG.

The German agricultural organisation said that with more and more legal directives driving the direction of farming, the farmer is facing competition not over land or animal housing capacity, but over technology.

New ways to control emissions and manage the environment are driving the technological advances.

DLG has called for animal welfare issues to be discussed and conducted on an international level.

“At present, this topic is not relevant to gaining a competitive export advantage,” DLG said.

“Whether new markets will develop as a consequence of new animal husbandry systems remains an open question.

“Rather, the fear is that animal welfare criteria will be interpreted differently, which could lead to a loss of competitiveness in one country and to its livestock farming sector moving to other countries with less stringent regulations.”

DLG said that livestock farmers’ need for information remains as high as ever – including breeding advances, feeding, keeping and management regimes, logistics and animal health and welfare.