It’s a little over one month until Ag in Motion gets underway in Langham, Sask., and organizers are gearing up to offer several new additions to the western Canadian outdoor farm show.
Why it matters: Ag in Motion runs July 16-18 at Glacier FarmMedia’s Discovery Farm Langham, half an hour’s drive from Saskatoon.
Those looking for jobs in the agriculture industry or for more information about those careers are invited to register for the Ag in Motion Career Crawl.
The event includes a self-guided tour in which people can meet representatives and learn about participating ag-related companies, said show director Rob O’Connor. A luncheon July 18 will provide further opportunity for networking, he added.
“There’s a lot of interest in the rural western Canadian market for people to get into ag jobs, but sometimes they don’t know what (those opportunities) are,” O’Connor said.
“We’ve also seen that there’s a lot of new people from urban backgrounds who (may want to get) into these jobs and they don’t know how to get into them.”
It’s an opportunity for small-town companies to have access to more potential employees, O’Connor added.
Agriculture has a noted labour gap. A report last year from the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council estimated that labour shortages contributed to $3.5 billion in lost agricultural sales in 2022.
Livestock in spotlight
The AgTech Breakfast is an established feature on the Ag in Motion schedule that connects startups with farmers, but there previously hasn’t been an event dedicated to highlighting new, livestock-specific technology. That changes this year.
The Livestock AgTech Happy Hour, which will happen every afternoon of the show, will showcase the latest ideas in livestock machinery and software.
The event will take a more informal approach than the AgTech Breakfast, but companies and inventors will still get the chance to pitch their products and get feedback from producers.
Testing iron
Machinery demonstrations have always been a major draw of the show, and that is likely to be the case this year as well. Farmers will again have the chance to get close to new equipment while it’s in action.
O’Connor said this year’s show will include more ride-and-drive components. Announcements on lineups for this and other show features are expected throughout June.
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