The Western Canada Farm Progress Show used a new method to attract more international buyers for its exhibitors this year and it worked.
Mark Allan, chief executive officer of Regina’s Evraz Place, which holds the show, said the new system was worth at least $85 million in sales and not all data has been compiled.
Show manager Rob O’Connor said international buyers who attend the show for the first time or who are repeat visitors looking for new lines are eligible for a rebate of 50 percent of their airfare through the Canada-Saskatchewan Western Economic Partnership Agreement for an export development program.
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“It’s sort of a carrot,” he said.
The buyers attend the show at their own expense and can then go through an eligibility process to determine if they are entitled to the rebate, he said.
This includes filling out an evaluation form, attending the international reception and listing three companies they met to discuss sales. The Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership and federal Department of International Trade help show officials determine the validity of the applicants.
Last week the federal and Saskatchewan governments announced that $338,000 has been allocated for the program over three years. Some money will pay for staff to administer the program and some will pay for software that matches buyers and sellers and sets up appointments.
Regina Lumsden-Lake Centre MP Tom Lukiwski made the announcement, saying new buyers help Canadian companies compete in the global economy.
Allan noted that the international aspect of the show sets it apart from many others and the new program will help it grow.
He said one Saskatchewan manufacturer e-mailed after this year’s show to say new business resulted in between three and five containers going to Australia and another to Kazakhstan.
O’Connor said the program will also help the show identify the next countries coming to buy Canadian equipment. Mongolia and Lithuania are two to watch.
“Lithuania is sort of where Kazakhstan was five or six years ago,” he said.
