Organizers of one of Western Canada’s biggest farm equipment shows expect the event to bounce back in 2023 and be bigger than ever.
“I’m hoping to see in the neighbourhood of 10,000 (attendees),” said Dave Fiddler, show manager of the Ag-Expo and North American Seed Fair, which runs from Feb. 28 to March 2 in Lethbridge.
“We’ve expanded our marketing reach and are doing more promotion this year. I’m a pretty optimistic fellow and I believe we’re going to have a record-breaking crowd.”
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Fiddler has reason to be optimistic. In spite of inclement weather and ongoing COVID-19 provisions, last year’s smaller-scale show (which followed a no-show in 2021) saw 7,000 people pass through the gates of Lethbridge and District Exhibition Park.
“(Last year) they were restricted in terms of the number of exhibitors they could have, so due to that, a lot of people may have said, ‘It’s not a full show – maybe we’ll just stay at home,’” said Fiddler.
“But this year we have a full show. We are jam full. Every bit of space where we can put an exhibitor has an exhibit in it.”
Billed as “Western Canada’s premier agricultural exhibition,” Ag-Expo features 225,000 square feet of the latest farming equipment. Other exhibits are dedicated to irrigation systems, livestock supplies, chemicals and seeds, to name a few.
“It’s very much a business-focused show,” said Fiddler. “It covers all the areas of ranching and farming and a little bit of focus on irrigation given this location within the province.”
The show’s speaker series is always popular, he said. This year’s event features a who’s-who of local agricultural research scientists, many of them from Lethbridge College.
One of the presenters is Nick Savidov, who will speak on sustainable food production in climate-controlled growing environments. Others include Willemijn Appels (optimizing irrigation efficiency through applied research and technology) and Chandra Singh (reducing waste during food and feed storage, conditioning and processing).
A full list of speakers is available on the Ag-Expo website at ag-expo.ca.
Socializing is an important function of the show and organizers have focused on making it easy and convenient to do so, said Fiddler.
“We’ve got an area called The Gathering Place. It’s a buffet at lunchtime and a place where people can get together. It’s getting towards spring and everybody’s talking about their planting. It’s a great opportunity to get together.”
Organizers are making a special effort to invite past graduates of Lethbridge College to the show.
“We’ll have an area where they can gather and reminisce,” said Fiddler. “A lot of ag grads came out of Lethbridge College. We’re hoping they’ll all come out and do some socializing and reminiscing about their times at Lethbridge College and living in the Lethbridge area. Many of them have gone all over the world.”
One exhibitor who’s looking forward to this year’s show is Jeremy Matuszewski, CEO of Thunderstruck Sales in Winkler, Man. Last year was Thunderstruck’s first appearance at the show, he said, and it was an exciting and profitable one.
“We really felt like we wanted to take part in Ag-Expo. We had heard some good things but we had never been to it. It was incredible.”
Thunderstruck does sales and marketing for farmer-invented machinery from across North America. Attending trade shows is a big part of its strategy. Of all the North American shows the company attended in 2022, Ag-Expo was sixth in terms of total revenue generated, said Matuszewski.
“I would have been happy if it was in the Top 10. It was $8,000 away from being in the Top 5,” he said.
“It’s a must-attend and it’s a great time to have an event because it’s in March. Guys are starting to get geared up for getting seed in the ground. The timing of the show is very unique and it’s the closest to planting season that we get to talk to farmers in southern Alberta.”
The opportunity to talk to farmers is especially important for his company, said Matuszewski.
“A lot of the time the products we represent don’t have big brands,” he said. “We’re not the John Deeres, we’re not the Cases, we don’t have that kind of brand authority. We need to chat with (people) to be able to explain how our products can solve the problems on their farms.
“And so for us a successful show is not only the amount of sales that are done during the show but also what happens after – how many guys we talk to at the show that call us later and who we can help.”
Tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the gate. Children ages 11 and under are admitted free.
