Organizers say last week’s Western Canada Farm Progress Show was one of the best ever.
Record attendance and tens of millions of dollars in sales highlighted the June 17-19 event, said show manager Rob O’Connor.
“I think in my experience this is number one or number two,” he said.”Our international component was spectacular this year.”
Final numbers weren’t yet available but the second day attendance was at least 500 people more than the 2007 record. On Friday, which can be slow, the grounds were still buzzing.
Read Also
European wheat production makes big recovery
EU crop prospects are vastly improved, which could mean fewer canola and durum imports from Canada.
O’Connor pointed to a comment from a first-time American exhibitor as an example of satisfied exhibitors. He said the people “keep coming like roaches.”
The global recession didn’t stop international buyers, although some countries sent fewer people than in the past.
Combining a preview day and the inter-national reception before the traditional Wednesday opening proved to be a good move.
Show officials invited top producers in Western Canada, members of the Agricultural Manufacturers of Canada already meeting at their annual convention, and international guests to tour the show together.
AMC president Jerry Engel said the idea paid off.
In past years, many international guests waited in the business centre for manufacturers to visit them.
“The preview day forced them, if you will, to actually see all of the equipment that’s out there,” he said. “That generated a huge amount of interest.”
O’Connor and Lionel LaBelle, president of the Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partner-ship, said international business was brisk.
Kazakhstan is typically a strong buyer and that remains so despite the global recession, LaBelle said.
Some farms there are as big as 1.5 million acres.
“When they come to buy an air seeder or a drill here, they buy 20, 30, 40 of them at a time,” he said.
LaBelle noted how the first air seeder and cultivator to appear at the show in 1979 caused a stir and some predictions that the technology would never fly. Now, that technology is standard.
The show is known for showcasing new inventions but just seven were listed this year. O’Connor said that’s because the criteria changed. In the past, companies that claimed to have new inventions were taken at their word. This year, they had to have a patent or patent pending.
“They had to have a legal document that says this is new,” he said.
Products listed as new would have qualified to exhibit in the new inventions area in the past. This year, they were identified as new but not all located in the same area.
An equipment auction held for the first time turned in respectable numbers, O’Connor added.
