
DLG (German Agricultural Society) has announced the appointment of Ulrike Schmidt-Machinek as the Managing Director of the newly established DLG North America. In her role, Schmidt-Machinek will lead the transfer of DLG’s relevant exhibition and agricultural expertise to North America.
DLG (German Agricultural Society) has appointed Ulrike Schmidt-Machinek as Managing Director of DLG North America, DLG’s newly-established subsidiary based in Elora, Ontario, Canada. Starting her role in February 2025, Schmidt-Machinek will be responsible for managing DLG’s activities on the North American continent, including Canada, the United States and Mexico.
Ulrike Schmidt-Machinek will be responsible for DLG North America, which started operation in November 2024. The organization will be offering the region’s farmers access to technical solutions and best-practice knowledge, enabling informed investment decisions. To this end, the DLG North America has already announced the launch of a new trade fair in 2025, American Dairy Expo, to take place November 5 and 6, in Vermont, US. The launch exhibition comes in addition to the annual Canadian Dairy Expo (CDX), which DLG acquired from Underhill Enterprise Inc (UEI) in October 2024.
“Ulrike Schmidt-Machinek has accumulated a wealth of experience in the agribusiness worldwide, thanks to her many years of work as international sales director for the EuroTier and Agritechnica trade fairs. Her international network includes companies, leading experts and farmers as well as economic development agencies in North America. We are looking forward to benefiting from her extensive international trade fair know-how, which she will bring to this role,” says Jens Kremer, Managing Director of DLG Markets (formerly DLG International).
In her role as Managing Director, Schmidt-Machinek will be supported by Jordon Underhill, former owner of UEI, and Brad Michnik, DLG representative North America, to develop DLG’s activities in North America.
Ulrike Schmidt-Machinek hails from Germany and joined the DLG more than 25 years ago, serving in various international roles in the exhibition department, latterly as Head of International Sales for the DLG trade fair portfolio, coordinating sales activities of DLG’s international subsidiaries. Prior to her current role, Schmidt-Machinek served as project manager for one of the world’s largest exhibitions for agricultural machinery, Agritechnica, overseeing some 2,700 exhibitors and more than 400,000 visitors.
Schmidt-Machinek earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in international business studies with a focus on NAFTA, graduating from Bremen University of Applied Science and the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce in Grenoble, France. She completed a graduate traineeship at Schott in Mainz, Germany, and subsequently acted as advisor at Schott’s internal marketing and strategy consultancy.
In her role, Ulrike Schmidt-Machinek will lead the transfer of DLG’s relevant exhibition and agricultural expertise to North America. North American farmers will reportedly also benefit from the work of the DLG’s Competence Center Agriculture, which covers farm management knowledge and international market surveys as well as a network of 3,000 international experts.
Schmidt-Machinek is fluent in English, German, French and Spanish.
DLG North America has announced the launch of the American Dairy Expo to take place in Burlington, Vermont, November 5 and 6, 2025, a specialized trade fair for dairy cattle farming. The American Dairy Expo is expected to benefit from existing synergies: dairy and exhibition know-how of the DLG as well as the existing annual Canadian Dairy Expo (CDX) in Ontario, Canada, which in 2025 takes place 2 and 3 April.