On Tuesday 26 April the 7th Benelux Pest event was held. Independent consultant Joeke Nijboer was there and sent us this report.
This time the exhibition was held in the NH Conference Centre Koningshof Veldhoven, near Eindhoven, in the Netherlands but close to the border with Belgium. Although the weather was very bad, with rain, snow, hail and wind almost 400 visitors braved the elements to attend and that is nearly twice as many as came to the last one.
| Probably the increase was because Benelux Pest is now being held every two years, instead of annually. The location near to the Belgian border also meant that more Belgian visitors were attracted to the event. Visitors however came not only from Belgium and the Netherlands but also from various other countries including Germany, the UK, the USA, Slovenia, Poland, Sweden, Italy and France. The number of exhibitors at 42 was also at a record level and they too came from all over the world. |
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| A lot of new products could be found in the exhibition for example new electronic mouse and rat detection systems and new rodenticides and bait stations. Of course many other products used by pest controllers could be found including a lot of products with new variations like electric fly catching systems, bed bug monitoring systems and wasp control equipment.
During the event two presentations were given. The first was by Steiner Henskens, director of the Bird Control Group and he talked about the use of lasers to mange birds like geese, gulls, sparrows and pigeons on airports, buildings and farm land. |
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Exhibitors and visitors share a joke!| The second presentation was from Bart Knols, director/ entomologist of In2Care. His theme was the threat of invasive mosquito species in the Netherlands and the possible impact of them on the spreading of viruses like malaria, dengue fever and the zika virus.
With such enthusiastic speakers and interesting topics it was no surprise that both presentations were well attended. Evening entertainment included the Happy Hour, sponsored by Bayer. This was followed by the Pest Control News ‘walking dinner’. More than 80 exhibitors and visitors enjoyed the dinner which was accompanied by live music. Somewhat later on heavy discussions continued in the bar. Everybody agreed that Benelux Pest 2016 was the best one yet and visitors and exhibitors alike are looking forward to the next Benelux Pest in April 2018. |
 Bart Knols spoke about the threat from invasive mosquitoes |
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