Venturing into the uncertain area of agricultural trade shows does not always pay off.
Saskatoon’s Prairie Venture Showcase, scheduled Feb. 26 to 27, has been postponed.
Organizers at Prairieland Exhibition say more than 100 trade show exhibitors are needed to make the show viable, and one week after the registration deadline only 20 applications had come in.
For four years Prairie Ventures included a trade show with exhibitors from specialty livestock interests, alternative crop organizations, organics and small “jams and jellies makers.”
The show was linked to the bull congress, but this year it had to stand alone when the livestock event merged into Cattle Congress, a combination of the Saskatchewan Cattle Feeders Association, Livestock Loan Guarantees and the Saskatchewan Livestock Markets and Order Buyers annual meetings. That event took place Feb. 5 and 6.
Read Also
VIDEO: Agritechnica Day 4: Robots and more robots, Nexat loves Canada and the trouble with tariffs
Agritechnica Day 4: Robots and more robots, Nexat loves Canada and the trouble with tariffs.
Organizers say they aren’t ready to blame lack of exhibitor registrations on the schedule changes.
“This is a tough year for farming. By the very nature of Prairie Ventures our exhibitors are made up of the entrepreneurial types,” said Prairieland agriculture manager Rudy Friesen.
“The show always had a high turn-over of exhibitors. It was hard to get a core of constant exhibitors together that could support the show year in and year out.”
Friesen said the exhibition will consider new dates for Prairie Ventures but has no plans to put it into the annual schedule.
