The American Meat Institute (AMI) has announced it will co-locate its 103-year old trade show next year with the U.S. Poultry & Egg (USPoultry) and American Feed Industry Associations’ joint expo, IPE/IFE, creating one of the largest 50 shows in the country. The newly expanded event in Atlanta will feature more than 1,000 exhibitors on close to one million square feet.

Following 20 years of discussions, USPoultry reached out to AMI with a proposal for this in the fall. “The synergy between the two shows has been obvious to both associations for a couple of decades,” says Anne Halal, AMI’s vice president of convention & member services. “Exhibitors in the food industry have been clamoring for less trade shows.”

Despite an industry saturation, steep barriers have prevented the shows from joining forces. First, AMI’s rates were almost double those of USPoultry, as AMI’s event was held biennially, rather than annually. Second, AMI’s show had been located in Chicago for more than 100 years and was hesitant to move. But as it began trying less expensive cities such as Dallas and Atlanta and moved to an annual format, the show became more flexible, making a partnership with USPoultry viable.

AMI and USPoultry have shared 135 crossover exhibitors in recent history, according to Halal. “Those exhibitors will now see savings in not having to exhibit in both shows and both cities. Attendees don’t have to choose just one and can take a large buying team to one place at one time.”

The meat and poultry exhibits will be combined on one floor, while the feed expo—which joined up with USPoultry six years ago—will occupy an adjacent space. Show operations will be handled out of USPoultry offices, while all three associations cooperate on marketing and sales.

“We all see the value of working together,” says Halal. “A lot of our marketing strategy will be joint, but we also see a lot of value in specific marketing to our industries.”

The expanded show will be held in January 2013 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. While an umbrella reference for all three events has not been determined, AMI will change its show’s name to the International Meat Expo, to better align with the names International Feed and International Poultry Expos.