REGINA — The decision to move Canada’s Farm Show from June to March appears to have worked.
While final attendance numbers for the first-ever spring version of the show weren’t yet available, organizers and exhibitors said the traffic was far better than the last several years of the summer version.
“I can confidently say our numbers have been absolutely up,” said show director Carla Vipond as the final day got underway. Later that afternoon, people were still kicking tires and talking to exhibitors.
Read Also
Alberta crop diversification centres receive funding
$5.2 million of provincial funding pumped into crop diversity research centres
Derek Molnar from Degelman Industries described the difference as “night and day.”
He said organizers put the show together in eight months and exhibitors who took the gamble on coming back are happy they did. Molnar said the show is condensed, with a shorter day and a footprint that made it easy to see everything.
“I feel like the vibe here was really relaxed,” he said.
There was time for farmers to visit with exhibitors and each other, which doesn’t always happen in June.
Drew Henderson, sales consultant based out of the Canada West Harvest Centre at Emerald Park, said all exhibitors had much more foot traffic than before.
”We’re not dealing with guys going to the sprayers, guys going to the lake,” he said.
Farmers had more time last week to talk to exhibitors and think about potential purchases than they would have in June, he said.
There was also an emphasis on having more fun, Vipond said. A concert and a hockey game were available for farmers to attend at the same time they were in the city. The show was fully licensed.
She said at the same time, exhibitors were reporting record sales.
“We know in the ag business deals are done over coffee, they’re done over beer, they’re done over whiskey and a farm show should echo that, I think,” added Molnar.
He said conversations were positive in spite of all the uncertainty farmers are facing. Degelman manufactures its equipment on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border and will have to juggle some production, he said.
The rock pickers, harrows and pro-tills sold in Western Canada are made in Saskatchewan with as much local material as possible, including steel, which is already under U.S. tariffs.
Henderson said everyone is talking about tariffs and wondering what will happen.
“It’s an everyday conversation, whether that’s at a farm show, at the coffee shop, in the neighbour’s field,” he said.
“We’ve just got to take our time here. We don’t know what it’s going to bring.”
Vipond added the show allowed farmers who needed and wanted to talk to others about that uncertainty the ability to do so.
The show began with the announcement of four winners in a new Innovation Recognition program. They included Jeremy Matuszewski from Thunderstruck Sales and Marketing in the emerging innovator category, Colin Rosengren of Rosengren Farms and Campresso in the farmer innovation category, Sara Shymko, executive director of Saskatchewan Ag in the Classroom as community innovator, and Wilf Degelman, visionary innovator.
Vipond said the show will continue its focus on innovation and wants to hear from farmers to be sure it is providing the programming and exhibitors that meet their needs.
The 2026 show will be March 17-19.
Contact karen.briere@producer.com
