SPACE, held in Rennes, France, kicked off eerily with the protest of 250 farmers.

The French police was carefully watching the crowd, predominantly consisting of angry dairy farmers who wanted better prices for their milk and were afraid of pending EU legislation related to milk quota.

Farmers put their anger and frustation on billboards and flags.

French minister of Agriculture Bruno Le Maire explained to the eagerly waiting and numerous members of the French press how he hopes to resolve the current milk price crisis.

Paul Kerdraon, exhibition manager (left) and Jean Michel Lemetayer, chairman of SPACE, kicked off the 23rd edition of SPACE with a press conference.

Cow parades, like this one on the 'Normand' breed are an annual tradition of SPACE and attracted a lot of people.

Guiding cows through the piste can sometimes be a challenge...

...and getting them there can be as tough!

French animal nutrition company InVivo used the annual French show to share its plans around InVivo NSA with the world. Here, Patrice Gollier (left), new chairman of InVivo NSA introduced the director of the new company: Thierry Van Vynckt.

The booth of Big Dutchman. The German livestock equipment company introduced a MixPump system for liquid feeding.

Dutch pig breeding organisation Topigs has customers everywhere in the world and used SPACE to catch up with those in France.

The booth of Boehringer Ingelheim animal health could be found in the centre of the pig hall at SPACE.

'Le Maison du Porc' or 'House of Pork' was as usual centrally located in the hall dedicated to pig production. It housed various institutions dedicated to pig production, e.g. the French Institute for Pork (IFIP).

Global animal nutrition and health company Alltech had found its way to Rennes.

Animal health company Elanco received two Innov'SPACE awards by introducing on-farm test kits for detecting bacteria in pig and poultry excretions.

Together with Genes Diffusion, swine reproduction company IMV Technologies launched its latest product Kit Collect.

Lesaffre used SPACE to announce a name change as its product BiIOSAF was changed into ACTISAF.

Despite the financial crisis, French pig reproduction company Landata/Cobiporc had a very good year internationally.

Yeast producer Lallemand, based in Toulouse, France, explained the improvement of its product AgriMos.

Merial Animal Health, based in Lyon, France, is traditionally very strong on the French market.

Attendees walking around the SPACE showgrounds.

Overview of the SPACE showgrounds. Unlike most years, the first day was full of showers and dark skies.

After the initial protests had gone, SPACE moved on in full swing to become another important and interesting edition. And, as always, the show can offer that extra bit that makes international visitors come to Rennes: excellent gastronomic pleasures.