AgSmart, the learning exposition held by Olds College of Agriculture and Technology, is entering a new phase of redevelopment and will not take place in 2026. The show will return in 2027.
“We made some changes to AgSmart last year. It worked out well, but we felt we needed some further refinement,” said Todd Ormann, vice-president of external relations and research at Olds College.
“When we sat down and we started looking at where we’re at, it became clear that we didn’t think we had it strategically aligned yet. We really need some time to rework that out.”
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WHY IT MATTERS: Olds College is a key hub for agriculture education and research, but its AgSmart event needs revamping to better serve attendees and the industry.
Making all the necessary changes to AgSmart by July 2026 was not feasible.
AgSmart is an educational exposition and is becoming more of a conference instead of a trade show.
Conferences don’t tend to make a lot of money, and the model to host AgSmart needs to be sustainable.
AgSmart premiered in 2019, paused during COVID-19 in 2020, and started up again in 2021. AgSmart partnered with Agri-Trade in 2024.
Over the years, people came for the presentations and displays.
“We always get good feedback and scores on the speeches, the talks and all those pieces,” Ormann said.
Changes needed
However, some of the vendors who paid for booth space were not getting the amount of traffic they wanted.
“People are not coming to visit those like they do at Ag in Motion, or Agri-Trade. They’re coming for the speakers,” he said.
Ormann said the group needs to think about how they restructure. AgSmart is likely going to become a conference, with on-ground learning sites, he said.
“We’re thinking about how we position this show as an exposition that showcases a lot of applied research that we see here in Canada and Western Canada. We’d like to get better engagement from places like Lethbridge Polytechnic, Lakeland College, Assiniboine College and the University of Saskatchewan,” he said.
“We haven’t started those conversations yet.”
Last year, AgSmart went from being a full field tent-based set up to a conference that had indoor talks on campus as well as some outdoor demonstrations. Ormann said the new event format received a lot of good feedback, and people appreciated air conditioning in the middle of July.
Who attends the show
Ormann said the other nuance is who is targeted to attend the show.
“It is really a combination of farmers, industry and government. The unique thing is because it’s a learning exposition, it’s a good opportunity for the entire industry to get together and collaborate across the spectrum. That’s where we’re trying to go with the show, whereas Ag in Motion is really focused at farmers, and so is Agri-Trade,” he said.
AgSmart hopes to become more of an exposition to merge researchers, industry, farmers and government funders.
The show has mainly focused on ag tech, both in the livestock and crop sectors.
“We’re always going to have a strong product focus, and a focus on technology, but we can also have conversations about agriculture and what we need as an industry to basically go forward,” Ormann said.
He said the group needs to think about how they develop a learning exposition, and how they engage others in showcasing their research.
“And we do want to make sure people see it as a western Canadian show,” he said.
The show was previously three days, but there is a discussion about shortening it to two. Ormann said AgSmart is also examining ideal dates. The show is currently held in July.
“It’s honestly really hard to find that right time, because there is Calgary Stampede, Westerner Days, Ag in Motion and by August, southern Alberta is harvesting again,” he said.
If the show is less field-based, it might be possible to move it out of July, said Ormann.
