A 115-year-old seed fair has reached its advanced age for a reason: it is a good place to show off quality samples.
The North American Seed Fair, displayed at Ag Expo in Lethbridge Feb. 29-March 2, drew 200 entries this year. That is down from its glory days of 400 to 500 entries, said seed fair committee member Julie Sisson, but it is still a draw for the annual trade show.
“It’s an opportunity for the pedigreed growers to show what they’re growing and sometimes people are shopping for certain varieties.”
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She said entries are trending lower for various reasons:
- Sometimes quality isn’t available, which was an issue last year when widespread frost downgraded samples.
- Fair regulations require seed samples to be representative of a three-ton lot from a seed cleaner. Growers cannot enter a sample if they haven’t cleaned their seed by the fair deadline.
- Shipping costs might be a factor for entries far from Lethbridge.
- Ownership changes to seed plants in the United States about two years ago reduced the number of entries from south of the border.
The seed fair has 50 classes including grains, oilseeds, pulses, forage and hay. Prize money ranges from $25 to $75 and winners receive a plaque.
Seed fair committee chair Shad Milligan said the display of winning samples remains a draw for Ag Expo.
“There’s actually a lot of people looking at the samples themselves. The way we’ve got it set up, the championship plaques are placed with the sample. The volunteers do a great job of setting the display up, to make it draw that crowd to have a look,” he said.
“The exposure is huge and for some of the seed growers it’s really one of those things to showcase new varieties.”
Ag Expo and the seed fair drew 25,148 visitors this year, which was 2,500 more than last year and a six-year high in attendance.
