The company behind Canada’s two biggest outdoor farm shows is expanding to the great indoors as the new operator of another well known Canadian farm industry event.
Glacier FarmMedia announced Monday it has acquired and will assume management of the Farm Forum Event, an annual professional development event for farmers, starting with its 20th anniversary show in December in Calgary.
The event, launched in 1999 by agronomic consulting company Agri-Trend Inc., has been hosted by California-based GPS technology firm Trimble since it bought Agri-Trend in 2016.
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Financial terms of the agreement with Glacier won’t be disclosed. Trimble remains a “presenting sponsor” for the 20th anniversary event, running Dec. 4-6 at Calgary’s Telus Convention Centre, while GFM handles operations.
The three-day event offers TED Talk-style information sessions, industry panels and a trade show, updating farmers on new innovations and research in nutrients, crop management, finances, markets and equipment, GFM said.
“This event is an excellent fit with Glacier FarmMedia’s strong connections to farmers and crop advisors and compliments our outdoor farm shows and media properties,” GFM president Bob Willcox said Monday in a release.
GFM, an arm of Vancouver-based business information firm Glacier Media and publisher of Canadian farm journals and newspapers including the Western Producer, Country Guide, Grainews, Canadian Cattlemen and others — and operator of this website — is no stranger to ag event planning, having owned and operated Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show at Woodstock, Ont. since 2011.
The company also launched a new annual Prairie outdoor farm show, Ag in Motion, near Langham, Sask. in 2015.
For 2018, the Farm Forum Event is scheduled to include FutureCast panels of experts from academia and industry discussing autonomous machinery and advances in agronomy; a review of three years’ results from the Agri-Prize Canola 100 competition; a new series of breakfast table talks; and breakout learning sessions on topics including on-farm storage, farm equipment, markets, agronomy, soil health and precision agriculture.
Speakers scheduled to appear at the 2018 event include U.S. farmer and blogger Jolene Brown, U.S. farm policy reporter Sara Wyant, market and weather analyst Bruce Burnett of MarketsFarm.com, market analyst Mike Jubinville of ProFarmer Canada, Prairie ag journalists Mike Raine and Ed White and Trimble global business development lead Rob Saik, founder of the Agri-Prize Canola 100 competition.
“This unique event has attracted the industry’s smartest and most entrepreneurial farmers and crop advisors — those who want to be at the cutting edge of new technologies and agronomic strategies that promise to drive productivity,” Darren Howie, director of worldwide sales for Trimble Ag Business Solutions, said in Monday’s release. — Glacier FarmMedia Network
