For those seeking top agriculture-related speakers each January, Saskatoon used to be the leading prairie location. Gradually, that distinction has been lost to events in the neighbouring provinces.
For years, Saskatoon hosted Crop Production Week with big and small crop commissions holding annual meetings along with speaker programs. The meetings coincided with the Western Canadian Crop Production Show at Prairieland Park.
The Saskatchewan Pulse Growers meeting grew so large that for years it had attendees watching speakers live at the Saskatoon Inn and on a video feed to Prairieland. Attendance for this one meeting topped 1,600 for a couple years. Additionally, groups like SaskCanola would draw hundreds of producers to their meetings on different days of Crop Production Week.
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Strong, relevant speaker line-ups were rewarded with strong attendance.
In more recent years, the larger crop commissions hosted an event called CropSphere with top-notch keynote speakers and lots of concurrent sessions. That has ended. Plans for January 2024 in Saskatoon are now a mere shadow of the glory years.
SaskCanola, Sask Wheat, SaskBarley, SaskFlax and Saskatchewan Pulse Growers are holding back-to-back annual business meetings at the Western Development Museum in Saskatoon on Jan. 9.
These are annual general meetings without guest speakers. While it’s important for producers to learn how their levy dollars are being spent by each commission, AGMs are not noted for being scintillating affairs. The Crop Production Show will run at the same time at nearby Prairieland Park. Even more than usual, most producers will likely be drawn to the trade show and not bother with the AGMs.
A few groups will still have speakers along with their AGM. Sask Oats is holding its event at Prairieland Park on Jan. 10. Sask Mustard is holding its AGM with guest speakers at Prairieland Park Jan. 11.
A couple groups are holding their meetings outside of that traditional week in January and at different locations. The Saskatchewan Forage Seed Development Commission is holding its annual meeting and forage seed production forum Dec. 11 at Whitefox in northeastern Saskatchewan, where many of its forage seed growers are located. The Canary Seed Development Commission, which I’m involved with, is holding its AGM along with several additional speakers at a Regina hotel on Dec. 14.
What used to be co-ordinated and predictable from one year to the next has become increasingly random. Check out www.saskcrops.com and www.cropweek.com to figure out what’s going on and to register.
It’s a much simpler formula for Ag Days at Brandon on Jan. 16, 17 and 18. The huge trade show has two theatres with non-stop speakers each day covering topics ranging from agronomy to marketing to politics.
Commodity groups and Manitoba Agriculture are heavily involved in the speaker line-up. You can take in whatever speakers you want as part of your $20 a day admission to the trade show.
In Alberta, FarmTech has morphed into an event called CrossRoads Crop Conference. It’s sponsored by Alberta Canola, Alberta Grains and Alberta Pulse Growers on Jan. 29-31. This year, it’s being moved from Edmonton to the Westin Calgary Airport.
Attendance to CrossRoads is limited to 800 people and it carries a price tag. Until Dec. 1, an early bird pass can be purchased for $460.
I may attend elements of all three, but as I review preliminary agendas, I’m more drawn to Brandon and Calgary than what’s happening in Saskatoon in January. It didn’t used to be that way.
Kevin Hursh is an agricultural journalist, consultant and farmer. He can be reached by e-mail at kevin@hursh.ca.
