Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show wows again

Over 37,000 people attended this year’s Outdoor Farm Show this year where over 600 exhibitors showed there wares to local, regional and international attendees. (Lee Griffi Photo)

Lee Griffi, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Nearly 48,000 visitors attended the three-day show on September 10, 11 and 12 to see the latest agriculture innovations and equipment technology at Ontario’s largest outdoor farm event.

The show draws interest from across Canada and around the world for those wanting an up-close experience of agricultural livestock, equipment, crops and technology. Dozens of onsite events gave visitors many ways to connect and share their interest in Ontario agriculture.

“I’ve been in the business for 25 years now and this was the best show I’ve ever seen,” said show director Rob O’Connor.

He added every part of the show ran incredibly smoothly over the three days.

“From behind the scenes when we started the show when the exhibitors were moving in, the team did a great job and that set the stage. Our exhibitors do a great job presenting themselves and the new technologies. We had 18 companies that participated in the innovation award program and we had 15 busloads of young people coming to the career call event.”

The weather couldn’t have been better as daytime highs reached the high 20s with no rain over the three days.

“The site looked great. The site looked great as we had lots of moisture before the event so everything was green and lush. It just added to the overall great feeling from the show.”

O’Connor proudly explained the largest number of agricultural companies coming together at one event is at the Woodstock show, the largest of its kind in Canada.

“Because of that, it drives a lot of attendees from outside Southwestern Ontario along with Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and the eastern United States, but also a lot of visitors from outside of Canada.”

Those groups included folks from the Czech Republic, Italy, Holland, and just a large number of people interested in the business of agriculture. O’Connor said they come because it offers an opportunity to connect with other people in the business and a chance to see the newest technology.

He added groups come to Canada to explore new connections and business opportunities, thanks in part to politics and turmoil.

“We have seen so much turmoil in Eastern Europe and the Ukraine/Russia war has changed how countries work together. They want to source our technology or perhaps sell some of their equipment and technology to Canada and North America using our show as a gateway to that market.”

The show may be over but the planning for 2025 gets underway soon, including debriefing about the good and bad from this event.

“We all sit back and think about the show, get the emotion out of it because there is a lot of passion involved. We try to remove that by taking some time away, then come back and analyze what went right, what went wrong, and can we fix things or grow things that will help the show to continue on.”

It may be early in the planning process for next year but O’Connor did quip they have their eyes on some new parts of the world to target.

“What we will definitely look at is the international market. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of international delegations this year. We will continue exploring those new markets to provide that gateway for Canadian manufacturers. We tend to forget in Canada how much more advanced we are in our technology than other parts of the world.”

He added farmers from other countries want to learn how we farm so they can advance their own industries including South America, Australia and New Zealand.

“Depending on what types of crops they are growing it can be those countries you listed but it could also be France, Italy, and a lot of South African countries are growing quickly and are using agriculture to improve their economic structures.”

O’Connor explained he has seen a lot of interest from countries like Ethiopia and Uganda.

“We will see how those develop but right now there is more of an opportunity to grow the international space than there has been in the last two decades.”

The show hosted 657 exhibitor booths with companies participating in new product launches, field demonstrations, cutting-edge research, special events and autonomous equipment demonstrations.

Other features included the latest technology in the field including robotic equipment, drones and autonomous machinery. Robotics and live animals in the Dairy Innovation Centre showing new production technology and new field research at Discovery Farm Woodstock bringing advancements to Ontario farmers.