THE second Yorkshire Agricultural Machinery Show (YAMS) promises to be even better and bigger than the successful 2014 inaugural event.

At least 130 trade stands and exhibitors will offer a more diverse and varied range of equipment and services to the thousands of farmers from Yorkshire and the North of England who are expected to attend next month's event at York auction mart.

Richard Tasker, event organiser and mart auctioneer, said that more stands – up from last year's 90 – does not mean duplication. There will be an even wider range of topics and equipment – everything from tractors, ploughs and other tackle for arable and livestock farming, to ground care and estate management, parkland and forestry, 4x4s, precision farming and GPS technology.

Renewables – both energy and technology – will be out in force including agricultural wind turbines, solar PV, solar thermal, heat incentive schemes, biomass and feed-in tariffs. Experts attending include Duncan Renewables, Manco Energy, Earthmill Turbines, Dresser Solar and Life’s Energy.

The growing importance and everyday use of new technology and precision farming will be reflected by the six specialist companies attending – Dempsey Precision with precision agricultural tools and services including GeoSteer and Auto Farm Paradyme; DGPS4U, who are DGPS, GPS and tracking solution specialists; L H Agro, specialists for Top Con Precision Agricultural Systems; Manterra, whose range of technical solutions include SBG Autosteer, agronomic weeders and Duporte fertiliser injection; and Soil Essentials, whose precision farming solutions include yield mapping and agricultural GPS auto-pilot systems.

Mr Tasker said everything on display will be practical and useful – the sort of equipment and tackle that is of interest to the region’s farmers.

“We got lovely feedback last year from visitors and exhibitors alike,” he said. “They liked the fact that the exhibitors were local dealerships, whose faces they recognised, and that it was the normal sort of tackle that they would use, not big prairie-type machines.”

The original show grew from a local machinery dealer asking if he could host an open day at the centre and LAMMA announcing that it was moving further south – from Newark to Peterborough – which proved too far to travel for many in the North of England, and the idea of holding a major event at York grew.

But Mr Tasker was stunned by the response. He said: “We had underestimated the depth of feeling about LAMMA moving. People welcomed having something more local, especially the exhibitors as they would have had to have travelled further and stay an extra night with all the costs involved to go to LAMMA – so we benefited off the back of that.

“We were determined to run it right and put a lot of investment into it. It was a really good atmosphere and we had a hog roast which was a bit different and went down very well. We got very nice feedback and even received cards thanking us for staging it. That was very touching and meant a lot – it takes time and effort to write.”

o YAMS 2015 is at York auction mart , Murton, just a few hundred yards from the main junction of the A64 with the A1079, on Wednesday, February 4, from 8.30am to 4.30pm. Entry and parking is free.