Agri-Visions draws a big crowd

The herd mentality at the Lloyd Ex for this year’s Agri-Visions was decidedly jovial.

It was the first agriculture show in years without any COVID restrictions and drew a good turnout for a trade show, keynote speakers and banquet on Feb. 8-9.

“We sold out two of our three buildings and three-quarters of the third building, so we couldn’t be happier with the turnout,” said facility event administrator Jen McRobert on the opening day.

“I think people are just ready to get back to normal after COVID for many years. Everybody just loves socializing and chatting. This is the place to do it.”

Agri-Visions brings the latest information on both the grain and cattle industries under one roof.

McRobert says it gives exhibitors a chance to showcase what their new products are and what they have for inventory, especially the dealerships.

“They can showcase all the new equipment they have,” she said.

“For the smaller guys, it gives them a chance to be out in the community and make some new business connections.”

We sold out two of our three buildings and threequarters of the third building, so we couldn’t be happier with the turnout.

McRobert called the attendance amazing by noon on opening day, including a visit by Lloydminster Mayor Gerald Aalbers, who offered his first impressions.

“It’s tremendous. It meets the needs of our producers, be it gain or cattle,” said Aalbers.

“It’s great to see local businesses out here showing their wares and equipment off and the other services that go with it.”

Aalbers says the show brings together grain, oilseed and cattle producers.

“I think that just speaks to the nature of the industries around us,” he said.

With lunch on the go, he said, “I haven’t found anybody in our community who doesn’t like to enjoy a good roast beef sandwich, steak and a loaf of bread, and those are all things we can look around our community to provide.”

The list of scheduled speakers for topics such as farm insurance, technology options, fertilizer and livestock marketing, was also getting a lot of early attention from show-goers.

McRobert says they dropped the agronomy stage this year to put all the speakers in one room so no one would miss out and the change worked from the get-go.

“Every speaking session has so far been packed full,” said McRobert.

“And for the trade show, we have people everywhere, so we couldn’t be happier with the attendance.”

McRobert was optimistic all of the few remaining tickets for the Heart of the Farm Banquet would be sold out at the end of the day and it turned out more than 700 people attended.

Everyone wanted to hear what farmer Dickson Delorme had to say as his social media persona, Quick Dick McDick.

He was also set to deliver a talk on the future of agriculture on the final day of the show.

Aalbers may have beaten him to it though, as he correctly noted there’s so much more to agriculture than there used to be.

“The traditional elevators are gone, now we see high throughput elevators. We see more grain on the road we see a changing world for chemicals and fertilizers,” said Aalbers.

“Precision farming is the greatest change I’ve seen with the GPS and all the pieces that go with it.”

Next up at Lloyd Ex is the Cutter Rally for Cancer on Feb. 25, the Progress Steer and Heifer Show on March 18-19, and Spring Sport and Leisure Show on March 24-26.