Promoting Tower Farms & Tower Garden at the Greentech in Amsterdam in the Netherlands

We just came back from exhibiting at the Greentech in Amsterdam where we were promoting Tower Farms by Tower Garden®️ in Europe. Of course, the Greentech is very international and brings qualified visitors from Africa, Asia, South America, USA, Canada, Australia, and the Middle East. In terms of the quality of the exhibitors, when it comes to precision farming, the Greentech features the best array of companies in comparison to all the other agricultural related expo/trade shows we have ever been to either as visitors or exhibitors. It is truly the Mecca of agriculture 4.0! If looking for “agricultural robots”, from sorting vegetables to preparing seedlings, and from harvesting strawberries to beneficial insect releasing drones, the Greentech offers the best options for companies offering cutting-edge technologies. However, we were very disappointed by the quality of the “medicinal cannabis pavilion”. The vertical farming section of the Greentech was juxtaposed to the medicinal cannabis pavilion. The medicinal cannabis pavilion was shy from being an embarrassment considering that we were in Amsterdam! There were few companies exhibiting and there was no innovative technology being presented. The “vertical farming pavilion” was a newly added section of the Greentech. The vertical farming pavilion was pathetic considering the lack of company and how small it was! However, we were there exhibiting and without pretension, our presence raised the bar! In fact, in collaboration with Ted and Karin Zwart (our new Tower Farm associates in the Netherlands), we built a very impactful booth/stand! The Greentech organizers had made a mistake by giving us a stand/booth measuring 6 m × 3 m when we had booked and paid for 6 m ×4 m. Their mistake created an intricate situation because Ted and Karin had prepared aeroponic commercial towers full of vegetables. We had to rearrange everything based on this small space. After having exhibited earlier this year at agricultural tradeshows in places like Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Qatar, we were shocked by the lack of organization for the Greentech. This came as a total surprise considering how high tech and organized the Dutch people are known to be! For example, although we had paid for it, somehow it did not show in their computer system that we were supposed to have electricity at night. They forced us to pay on the spot but no one knew how much it cost. We waited over 3 hours for someone to figure it out. Also, we had to wait over one hour on the first day to get our badges. On the last day, as we were coming back from lunch, we were denied entry using the very same badges which were given to us originally. The security claimed that the badges we had were strictly for construction workers and not for exhibitors although we had come in and out of the tradeshow with the very same badges for 3 days! We had to create a huge scandal and in spite of the legitimacy of our presence as exhibitors, the security refused us entry. We had to force ourselves through them inviting them to call the police because we had to work at our booth! It was such a ludicrous situation. It was such an embarrassment for the overall organization of the Greentech. Today, almost 10 days after the trade show has been over, no one is taking responsibility in regards to the 25% smaller space discrepancy for our booth/stand. We have requested a 25% refund since we overpaid 25%. Instead of being apologetic and offer an immediate refund, they are now asking us to prove that the stand was smaller. We have videos and photos. This is aside from the point: we should not have to be treated this way by the Greentech organizers after having received the short end of the deal. They should offer a partial refund and some form of compensation for having made such a mistake. They obviously prefer to bury our request in a bureaucratic trail where no one is responsible nor accountable. Once again, such a lack of organization is a complete surprise and such a contrast with the Dutch meticulous organizing skills which has given a great reputation to this amazing country. Would we come back to the Greentech? Maybe…. maybe not… let’s sort out the situation and make a decision.