Canada’s Farm Show moves online for 2021

Canada’s Farm Show is taking place in 2021, but it’s going to look very different.

One of the premier agricultural events of the year, the show was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Regina Exhibition Association Limited announced the event is a go in 2021 but it’s moving virtual.

“We were hoping to be able to do something in an in-person fashion but with what we’re seeing with COVID-19 and the challenges we’re facing across Canada, it just wasn’t realistic,” said REAL CEO Tim Reid.

Reid said the committee was not prepared to cancel the show like in 2020.

“Ninety days out of any major event, we’ve tried internally to make a decision and so the decision on this one as we approached that 90-day mark was that we were going to move to a virtual environment,” Reid said.

“We didn’t feel, even though we’re seeing positives when it comes to vaccinations, that we’d be in a place to be able to open, particularly indoors.”

Reid admits not being able to have the event on the Evraz Place grounds is a massive loss for REAL.

“It’s not only one of the signature events within our city, it’s also one of the signature events here on campus. It’s a million-dollar impact on the bottom line; it’s not insignificant. But on top of that, it’s hundreds of millions of dollars of impact on local visitor economy,” Reid said.

The event will take place over the course of two days (June 16-17) and will have speakers and panels discuss many topics related to the agriculture industry.

The list of scheduled speakers include former prime minister Stephen Harper, former Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall, Conrad Black and agrologist, agriculture consultant and entrepreneur Robert Saik.

People can register online for free for the event at canadasfarmshow.com.