Dutch forestry enthusiast leads way to Elmia Wood

AT ELMIA Wood 2009 Dutch nationals were the third-largest group of foreign visitors from outside the Nordic area. Yet the Netherlands is better known for growing tomatoes and tulips than trees. The man behind this interest in the fair is Johan Burgers, Elmia Wood’s first ambassador. Source: Timberbiz
Johan lives in the town of Bergen in North Holland, some 40 kilometres north of Amsterdam. Until he retired he was in charge of the region’s forests. Despite the location by the Atlantic coast, there are 5,400 hectares of forested land here. His interest in forestry was almost unavoidable, as all his relatives were involved with forestry and timber.
“While other kids were dreaming of being a pilot or train driver, I wanted to work in the forest,” he says.
The Netherlands has more forest than one might think, a total of 365,000 hectares or 11% of the nation’s land area. Johan graduated in 1966 from a forestry school and got a job in the industry.
“We had a boss with a lot of ideas. I discovered that he’d visited a forestry fair in Sweden and suspected that was where his inspiration was coming from,” Johan remembers.
In 1971 he visited Elmia in Jönköping for the first time. Back then, forestry was a section of the big agricultural fair that was held at Rosenlundsfältet in Jönköping, where Elmia’s facilities are still located today. Even though the exhibition had no live demos, his visit prompted a desire to return.
“It was a big improvement when the forestry fair moved out into the forest in 1975 and the machines could be demonstrated,” he says. “Nowadays it’s perfect, with the same well-organised fairgrounds every time.”
Johan didn’t just visit the fairs himself, he also organised group trips to Jönköping for fellow enthusiasts. The fair visit was combined with excursions to a range of industries. Each time, the groups were based at the Axamo campground, where the Dutch delegation also enjoyed traditional Swedish Midsummer celebrations.
“For Elmia Wood 2005 there were 150 of us. I felt like the mayor of a small town,” Johan remembers with a laugh.
The Elmia staff realised early on that Johan Burgers was a forest enthusiast with a large contact network. In 1993 he was officially appointed as Elmia Wood’s first ambassador and he will celebrate his 20th anniversary in this role at Elmia Wood 2013.
The last year Johan arranged a group trip was 2005. Forestry fans from the Netherlands now find their own way to Elmia Wood. But Johan still publishes a forestry newsletter three times a year, gives presentations about the fair at forestry schools, and informs potential visitors and exhibitors.
“Five companies from the Netherlands exhibited at Elmia Wood in 2009,” he says. “One of them manufactures forwarders and biomass equipment.”
His interest in forestry also prompted an interest in Sweden. In his home town of Bergen he has organised Swedish theme days and has certainly attracted far more tourists to this Nordic country than just forestry visitors. So who knows, maybe Johan Burgers is also part of the reason why so many Dutch people are moving to Sweden.
Now, though, his focus is on Elmia Wood 5–8 June 2013. The fair’s first ambassador is sure it will be a world-class event as usual. Whatever the case, the many emails and phone enquiries about the fair are proof that interest in Elmia Wood in the Netherlands is at a record high.