Beef Australia travelled 30hrs to attend Canadian Western Agribition

People from around the globe have gathered in Regina for the Western Canadian Agribition this week.

Beef Australia Chief Executive Officer Simon Irwin said he travelled 30 hours just to get here for the event.

It’s his first time participating in the Agribition in Saskatchewan.

“It’s been an absolute exchange of ideas and so we’ve formalized a relationship through a Memorandum of Understanding. But honestly, it’s just the hospitality we’ve been shown and just the similarities of the events,” he said.

Canadian Western Agribition 2024 started on Nov. 25 and ends on Nov. 30 in Regina. (Abby Zieverink/980CJME)

“Ours is the biggest event of its type in the southern hemisphere, so there’s no one much you can talk to when you want to run something up and talk it over; but for us to be able to ring the team at Agribition is a wonderful two-way process.”

But despite the distance, and the cold, snowy weather, Irwin said everything else feels so similar.

“The most amazing thing is how similar they are, rather than how different they are. Roughly the same number of people come through the gate, we have about the same number of school kids go through, we have roughly the same economic benefit for our region,” he said.

“Honestly, it’s bizarrely similar. It’s just, it’s crazy.”

Not only is it similar, but Irwin said there is a sense of community and a feeling of home for him at the Agribition.

“I have no idea where my passport is because it doesn’t feel like a foreign country. It’s just a different sort of home. We’ve been absolutely overwhelmed with hospitality. It’s been great, really welcoming.”

Irwin said the similarities are even noticed in the speeches from the federal and provincial Agricultural ministers.

“If you’d crossed out Saskatchewan and put Queensland in there, it could have been given on the other side of the Pacific,” he said.

“We both get support from the federal government, from the provincial government, from the local government. Honestly, it’s just It feels surreal.”

He said there are plenty of fresh ideas they are taking back to Australia for their next Agribition in 2027.