Although it seemed a little sickly for a while, Edmonton’s Farmfair International is back to its healthy old self again. You just have to look at the numbers: a $300,000 purse, about 2,000 cattle entries and an anticipated attendance of 20,000.
A few years ago, the future of Farmfair — which runs November 6-9 at the Edmonton EXPO Centre — didn’t look so rosey. With attendance already declining, the Covid pandemic and the relocation of the Canadian Finals Rodeo conspired to limit the show’s scope.
But now, as the cattle exhibition — generally considered one of the best of its kind in the world — celebrates its 50th anniversary, the show is back on track with a wide range of attractions for both rural and urban attendees, said Farmfair director Leah Jones.
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“We had so many cattle entries that it crashed our system,” said Jones.
“We are so full that you would have to go back 20 years ago to have the same kind of cattle numbers that we have this year. It’s more than we ever could have anticipated.”
This didn’t happen overnight. Attendance has been rising steadily since 2022, she said.
“I think our success — both with the growth in urban audience and these overwhelming numbers by our exhibitors across Canada and the U.S. — is that we try to provide an exceptional experience.
“So whether they’re here to learn about cattle, whether they’re here to take in the petting zoo and pet a sheep for the first time or whether they’re doing a big international deal, we try to be the best host we can so that we we can facilitate business and learning, and that’s at the heart of what we do.”
New and returning
Shopping is back at Farmfair with the Country Christmas Marketplace. Around 120 vendors are set to market country clothing and accessories, unique gifts, crafts, local artwork, home accoutrements and more.
“We’re encouraging people to kickstart their Christmas shopping if you’re looking for some country stuff,” said Jones.
“People have asked us in previous years, ‘When are you bringing back the country shopping experience like we used to have?’ Well, there’s no better year than to try and bring it back on the 50th anniversary.”
A number of new features have been designed with urban attendees in mind. These events are meant to both entertain and educate city folk on the story of the food, said Jones.
Because dogs play a large role on many farms, there’s some dog-related events this year including dogs herding ducks and wiener dog races. Guests can also expect live chicks, a petting zoo and a session on how to grind corn into flour.
“We’re starting to really build out those kind of programs that urban families would enjoy coming down and seeing and learning about,” said Jones.
“I think that’s a really important component for us moving forward.”
But there’s also plenty of new stuff for Farmfair’s primary audience as well. One is Farm Forward. Although it’s targeted to all cattle producers, it will feature a particular focus on the challenges of young growers trying to gain a foothold in the industry.
“We have speakers that are going to speak on how to transition the family farm to the younger generation, how to put your farm dog to work, how to find money through online farm grants, profitable and practical regenerative techniques,” said Jones.
“We have a session on ‘leading without a title’: some stories of how young people that are passionate about agriculture have made a huge difference and are shaping the industry.”
Other Farm Forward attractions include a bovine ultrasound demonstration, a session on creating a farm brand and another on using social media as a promotion tool.
“I think we have some great topics. And as we we tell people about it, they’re really excited about it,” she said.
This year’s show also marks the return of the multi-breed purebred sale to Farmfair. It will feature approximately 50 live animals plus semen and embryos from various breeds.
“Following the cattle shows, we’re going to quickly flip the show ring and have the sale right down in the sawdust,” said Jones.
Farmfair is known for its Alberta Supreme Show which takes cattle champions from Farmfair and other cattle shows and awards a grand champion bull and female. Organizers felt it only made sense to include a junior supreme show in this year’s proceedings.
“It’s an invitation-only show (for) those juniors that have shown throughout the summer and the fall shows and have won. We’ve sent an invitation for them to come and compete in a junior supreme show. So that’s really exciting when we’re looking at our next generation.”
Inbound buyers seek Canadian genetics
Farmfair is simultaneously a cattle exhibition, a fun event for rural and urban visitors alike and a platform for big business. The latter category includes the inbound buyers program, where cattlemen and women from around the globe are given the VIP treatment as they check out the cattle genetics Canada has to offer.
Organizers do their part to align buyers with the appropriate sellers, said Jones. “If they’re a Hereford person, we’ll take them and introduce them to Hereford people.”.
As of two weeks before the show, 60 international guests from 13 countries — including regulars such as Mexico, the U.S., Australia and the UK — were registered for the program.
The program is a challenging one to implement, said Jones, but it’s an invaluable platform for the genetics industry.
“It’s not easy for all these countries to come,” she said.
“There’s some definite rigour with paperwork for countries to come into Canada. For example, for Mexico — which is such an important partner — Canada has put in a visa requirement.
“So we’re working really, really hard with Mexico to make sure that they can continue to support us now that there’s an extra step they have to take to come and do business with us.”
Mexico celebrated
Mexico, in fact, is Farmfair’s feature country this year with Mexican culture, food and entertainment sprinkled throughout the show to honour Mexican buyers’ longtime support.
“When you look back at the last 10, 12, 14 years of international buyers coming to Farmfair, there’s been millions of dollars (in business) done around cattle genetics and 60 per cent of that business has been with Mexico,” said Jones.
“So we’re really excited to feature Mexico as our country of honour to recognize that long standing, important relationship in the business that’s happened.”
Farmfair’s association with Mexico now goes deeper than big transactions sprinkled with some mariachi, however. Recently, Farmfair signed a memorandum of understanding with ExpoGan, an annual cattle show held in the cattle-producing state of Chihuahua, to become “sister shows.” This is big news, said Jones.
“We’re encouraging cross-promotion between the two states and the two shows. We’re promoting inbound and outbound missions between the two. We’re promoting the continuation of cattle genetics as Mexico is really focusing on ramping up the quality of their product and Canada is a natural choice for them.”
Further information on Farmfair International is available on the show website.
