February 6, 2018 | Kris Cherewyk
Vaderstad Industries Trade Show Month Debrief
Even with the cold weather sweeping across the Canadian prairies, January was a hotbed of activity for agriculture companies as industry trade shows were held in various locations during the month. Vaderstad Industries takes great pride in the opportunity to meet with growers, industry stakeholders, media and the general public to tell our story.
The month began in Saskatoon SK with the Western Canada Crop Production Show held at Prairieland Park. Despite the freezing temperatures and adverse driving conditions that accompanied Crop Week, attendance at the show was still quite strong as growers took in the proceedings. At the Vaderstad Industries booth, the Tempo planter was of particular interest to growers not only because of increasing soybean acres but also the ability to plant canola at a lower rate while achieving the same plants per square foot. This will allow growers to use less seed and plant at a faster pace, albeit with more management practices required. Day two of CPS also saw director of sales Nathan Sapach conduct an interview with Shaun Haney of RealAgriculture.com for their RealAgRadio program which airs daily on SiriusXM channel 147. On day three an agreement was announced between Vaderstad Industries and Devloo Manufacturing in which Vaderstad will sell their Roto mud scrapers through the Genuine Parts department.
Manitoba Ag Days at the Keystone Centre in Brandon MB followed next in which has become known as one of the larger indoor agriculture events in Canada. Traffic on the first day was quite busy as growers were keen to discuss Seed Hawk, Tempo and Carrier technology. The new CrossCutter disc, debuted by Vaderstad at Agritechnica in Germany, proved to be of interest to growers from the tough clay soil regions that make up the Red River valley in southern Manitoba. It was interesting to hear several growers in that region discuss their experimentation with zero-till agriculture in heavy soils and to answer their questions how a Seed Hawk drill can benefit their operations from an agronomic perspective. With corn and soybean acres becoming more popular in southern MB, plenty of discussion was had surrounding the Tempo’s planting precision and speed.
Our final stop on the agriculture show circuit crossed international borders at the KMOT Ag Expo in Minot ND. The Seed Hawk 660 tank was on display as well as the various Carrier disc options and growers took the opportunity to ask questions regarding this technology. While attendance at the show was relatively lighter, the customers there showed a substantial amount of interest in the equipment which resulted in several business opportunities moving forward.
With February arriving and the days getting longer, seeding will be here before we know it. Our next major show will be the Western Canada Farm Progress Show in Regina SK, June 20-22 where we look forward to discussions with growers about their seeding season and potential plans for 2019.