Episode 59

DOE SHOW: Behind the Scenes with Graham Parker

The annual Doe Show, staged by the multi-branch dealership, Ernest Doe Ltd has been held every year since 1960.

The 2020 show, and always held during the first week of February, was staged a few weeks before the Government announced a complete lockdown due to the spreading pandemic. Determined to keep the show on the road, Ernest Doe Ltd sales director Graham Parker and his team started to make plans for the 2021 show - whatever the ever-changing restrictions.

Graham describes how they put together a very different event in 2021, and still had to juggle Plan A, Plan B, Plan C for the February 2022 show as a second wave of Covid arrived.

In the event, the shows survived - and resulted in record returns. Graham tells of fluctuating plans, sleepless nights, new technology and visitor feedback.

The episode also reflects on the recent panel episode on recruitment and previews a forthcoming episode on proving the industry's environmental credentials

Episode is 30 minutes

Ernest Doe Company

Landbased Engineering website

Inside Agri-Turf website and all previous episodes

About the Podcast

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INSIDE AGRI-TURF
The farm and grass machinery business

About your host

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Chris Biddle

Chris is an experienced journalist specialising in the farm and grass machinery market. He has worked for a major tractor manufacturer and been a managing director of a farm and grass machinery dealership in the West Country.
In 1988, he launched trade magazine, Service Dealer followed by TurfPro in 1998, selling both titles to Land Power Publications in 2015.
He was editor of Landwards, the professional journal of the Institution of Agricultural Engineers (IAgrE) from 2008 until 2019 and is the recipient of the 2020 IAgrE Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Land-Based industry.
Chris lives in Salisbury with his wife Trish, and is an avid cricket fan and member of the MCC for over 55 years.