"The OMÉK is a celebration of Hungarian agriculture, the Hungarian farming community, and of the land. It is those few days during which farmers can introduce themselves and present the fruits of their labours to the public" – said Sándor Fazekas on Wednesday during his speech at the opening ceremony of the 75th National Agriculture and Food Exhibition (OMÉK). In the words of the event's chief patron, Viktor Orbán: "Agriculture is a vital take-off point for our nation."

"The OMÉK has been organised once again following a six-year pause, proving that things are slowly getting back to normal" – said the Minister, who was also a patron of the event.

With reference to the event, he stated: "the exhibition can proudly boast a two hundred year history of tradition, agricultural workers are supported by 1100 years of amassed knowledge, with which 522 exhibitors present their craft and products over 70 thousand square metres." The Minister added: he very much hopes that several tens of thousands of visitors will be interested in the varied and colourful parade of Hungarian agriculture.

"The best programme in Hungary today is the OMÉK" – stated Sándor Fazekas, before expressing his hopes that young people will also be interested in the exhibition because, as he put it, there is a great need for continuity and for them to know what reaches the table and how it gets there.

"The parade of Hungarian agriculture and the Hungarian food industry is opening its doors at a time when the world is once again turning with great interest towards agriculture, and when one of the most important issues is 'what will we have to eat in the future?'" – said the OMÉK's chief patron Viktor Orbán, adding: "this year, the number of people throughout the world who do not have enough to eat has risen by 10 million. In the future whole regions may become unstable as a result of food shortages. It is becoming slowly apparent internationally that you cannot eat electronic gadgets or stock-market investments, and so the role of agriculture is increasingly appreciated, because more and more people are asking the question: what will we have to eat in the future?" – the Prime Minister pointed out. "Hungary has had the answer to this question for hundreds of years, and the solution is: we will be eating locally produced, tasty and healthy Hungarian food" – stressed Viktor Orbán.

The Prime Minister explained: "thanks to our unique position, we produce more that we consume, and it is this ability that we must develop further so that we may become the region's food store. This makes it equally important that we also develop the required processing industry within the country."

"The value and appreciation of agriculture has increased greatly over the past few years" – said the event's chief patron – "and this may be a vital take-off point for Hungary to free itself from the problems caused by the current euro crisis. However, this requires the renewal of our affinity to the land, to agriculture and to work", stressed the Prime minister, adding: "we must relearn the value of the land, which is why the protection of arable land has been included in the new constitution."

"We must reinstate the natural relationship between village and city: it used to be taken for granted that the villages supply the city. By today this situation has been reversed: people from the villages travel to the city to buy poor quality foreign produce in big shopping centres" – noted Viktor Orbán. "It is not too late to squeeze low quality foreign products out of the market and make Hungarian goods more competitive" – said the Prime Minister.

Viktor Orbán stressed: "Whatever anybody says, Hungary is an agricultural nation, where industry cannot outgrow agriculture, only rise up to its level."

The National Agriculture and Food Exhibition (OMÉK), Hungary's oldest agricultural and farming event, was organised for the 75th time this year. This year's exhibition will primarily highlight processed Hungarian foods.

More information on the OMÉK is available on the exhibition's webpage.

(Press Office of the Ministry of Rural Development)