What springs to mind when you thing about “produced on the Prairies”?
It could be a winter vista of snowy landscapes under a brilliant blue January sky.
Or it could be the agricultural abundance that the region shares with the world.
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Or the innovative farm equipment that manufacturers in the region supply to farmers at home and far afield.
It might even be Manitoba Ag Days, Canada’s largest indoor farm show, which opens its doors for the 48th annual event Jan. 21-23, 2025.
This year, the theme of the event is a reprise of last year’s theme – produced on the Prairies. There’s a good reason for that.
“We decided to keep the theme because it was so well received and we have so many great Prairie products and innovations,” said Teresa Hildebrand, Ag Days media co-ordinator. “We wanted to give our exhibitors another chance to highlight what they’ve produced on the Prairies.”
Winter on the farm is a time for thought, a time for contemplating last year’s crop and getting ready for next year’s growing season. It’s also time for some fun – hockey, curling and time for socializing. It’s time for getting together, trading ideas and sharing experience.
January is also the time to take that turn off the highway and head into the Assiniboine Valley where the the river now meanders slowly under a layer of ice. It’s time to head to the city of Brandon, down 18th Street to the Keystone Centre where you can see this year’s Manitoba Ag Days spectacle. Twelve acres of farm show with over 550 exhibitors, 60 or more speakers and 34 examples of farm innovation.
Kick off
Although the official dates for Ag Days are Jan. 21-23, the first event on the roster is a craft beer tasting on Monday evening, January 20, at the Dome Building from 7 to 11 pm. It’s an opportunity to try samples of Manitoba’s up and coming craft brewing scene.
“The whole show will have the theme of Produced on the Prairies so you will see it on the Monday night event and on the Tuesday breakfast,” Hildebrand said. “The breakfast is returning again this year with Co-op as our sponsor and local businesses doing the food preparation.”
Breakfast will also be served in the Dome Building with proceeds going to Ag in the Classroom, an organization founded to bring the concepts of what farmers produce and how they do it into the province’s classrooms.
“And that’s talent, another thing we produce on the Prairies,” Hildebrand said. “So we want to talk about that too. We produce products and equipment and we often think of those things first but we also produce innovations and talent.”
There’s a new installation at this year’s show, a pavilion to showcase different Prairie products. It will run for all three days, with rotating displays exhibiting different Prairie products.
“The pavilion will be local food products, ready to consume,” Hildebrand said. “And along with that we’ll have some of the ingredients that we produce as well, locally milled flour, or butter. We have opened our minds a bit to what else we can do with local ingredients, how can we incorporate them with other local products or how might we bring them to market in different ways. That’s what we’re really trying to showcase with both the Monday night tasting event and the pavilion with the various vendors.”
Packed program
This year there’s a field of over 60 speakers for the different seminars and panels on topics ranging from agronomy through geopolitics and on to comedy. There are six keynote speakers lined up.
“Brian Hefty, a farmer and agronomist from South Dakota, is going to be talking about how we can maximize our yields,” Hildebrand said. “We talk a lot about things we can’t control as farmers. Instead let’s focus on the things we can control. What are the things that are within our control and how do we make decisions around those things.”
Attendees will also hear from Oil World’s David Mielke, speaking on the markets for oils, how those markets interact, and what impact that has on Canadian canola as well as soybeans and sunflowers.
Kristjan Hebert, of Moosomin, Saskatchewans’s Hebert Grain Ventures, will talk about running your farm as a business and how a farmer is really the CEO.
Patti Durand of Brightrack Consulting will talk about farm transitions and how your transition plan is proceeding, whether you’re taking part in it or just letting it happen.
“And then we have Jacob Shapiro and he’s our geopolitical speaker this year,” Hildebrand said. “He’s going to challenge our thinking about geopolitics.”
Shapiro describes himself as an “apolitical political speaker” and he works with an investment organization known as Bespoke, and speaks regularly on geopolitics for diverse audiences.
And then there’s farmer, youtuber and comedian Quick Dick McDick of Tuffnell, Saskatchewan with his his farmer’s perspective on where Canada fits in agriculture, trade, and a global economy, with a fair dash of humour.
Innovation recognized
The Ag Days Innovation Showcase is on again and it’s bigger than ever. There’s still seven catagories, but there are 34 entrants, two more than last year, a reflection of the quality of the prospective entrants.
“This year we could not make a decision to cap it off at 32 so it’s at 34,” Hildebrand said. “So that’s a great problem to have.”
The entrants are slotted into the usual categories: ag tech, agribusiness, agricultural equipment, agronomics, animals and livestock, farm built solutions and farm safety. They range from business apps to stone mapping systems through to farm robots for seeding and weeding.
“There’s numerous entrants in each of the seven categories and they are all posted on our website now,” Hildebrand said. “They’re posted by category and each one has a page with the details.”
Giving back
Some of the proceeds for things like the breakfast are for Ag Days Gives Back, the charity that delivers grants to different organizations or individuals whose applications are approved by the jury. The first category are the community grants.
“The community grants are not specific to a particular sector but open to all non profit organizations,” Hildebrand said. “Priority is given to organizations that have not received funds in the last three years.”
There are also $2,000 scholarships available to applicants gaining education in any program that may be employed later by agriculture. This runs the gamut from the universities and community colleges to trade programs, such as acquiring a class one licence.
“There will be three of those given away, and they are open to any high school graduate or someone in post secondary studies for any training that is related to agriculture,” Hildebrand said.
“We wanted to make sure it was inclusive and that we’re acknowledging all kinds of careers that contribute to agriculture. And then we support Ag in the Classroom Manitoba through the Education and Leadership for post secondary and the K through 12.”
For more show coverage, previews and more, check out out Manitoba Ag Days landing page here.
