To go back to the origins of the Agricultural Show you have to go to Poissy. In the 19th century, the city of Ile-de-France was one of the two main markets that supplied Paris with animals for sacrifice. Inspired by local competitions organized by agricultural fairs, a “fattened animals” competition was opened in Poissy in 1844, on the initiative of the Ministry of Commerce and Agriculture. Without much success. The contest returned to Versailles in 1850, with the idea that breeding males would compete on a national level. Here too it was stopped quickly, in 1853.
Eager to promote French agriculture, Napoleon III took up the idea and launched the first “universal competition of breeding animals” during the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1855. In the following years, other agricultural competitions were organized in Île-de-France, such as the the International Cheese Exhibition in 1865. In 1870 the Concours général agricole (CGA) was officially born. Animals, production and machines meet for the first time in the Palace of Industry on the Champs-Elysées.
300,000 visitors in 1964
The event was resumed and institutionalized in 1874. In 1913, for the first time, the prize-winning animals were paraded in circles, a public success. The General Agricultural Competition, renamed for some years as Agricultural Week, was established in 1925 in the new buildings of the Porte de Versailles exhibition center. Honey, goats, wines… Over the years, the event gradually diversified beyond the only contests with animals. However, the CGA was interrupted for twelve years due to World War II, before resuming in 1951.
To revitalize the event and offer French agriculture a true commercial and media showcase, the government opted for the creation, in 1963, of the National Center for Agricultural Exhibitions and Competitions (Ceneca).
The following year, the first International Agricultural Exhibition opened its doors in Paris and the final phase of the CGA was organized there. Since the first edition, no less than 300,000 visitors attended, and the event reached 500,000 visitors in 1975. It will only be canceled once, in 2021, due to the health crisis.
Source: BFM TV
