Crop Production Show a place to rekindle connections

It’s not just farmers who are enjoying the Western Canadian Crop Production Show in Saskatoon.

While many are visiting the show this week looking for information and new technology to improve their own farming, others like Doug Ferguson like to stop by just to catch up.

Ferguson was at the show on Monday with his friend Dave. The pair said they like to stop by the show each year to take in all the new developments in the industry and see more than a few familiar faces. Ferguson joked that he came to be nosey.

Visitors to the Western Canadian Crop Production Show on Jan. 9, 2023 at Prairieland Park in Saskatoon. (Libby Giesbrecht/650 CKOM)

Ferguson said there have been some major changes to the agriculture sector in recent years.

“I used to help farmers, and a 25-foot header was big at one time. Now they’re 50 and 60 (feet),” he marvelled.

Seeing the new technology available to help with seeding, Ferguson commented that farming seems to be a lot smarter today.

Though he didn’t work as a farmer himself, Ferguson said he spent years employed by the federal government through Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. He worked at the Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) community pastures where farmers would bring cattle for a season to be looked after.

Years later, he managed a PFRA bull station that raised replacement bulls after other animals were injured or died.

Ferguson said his connections go even deeper, and those connections are what keep bringing him back to the show each year.

“Once a farmer, always a farmer,” he said. “My dad was a farmer.”

Ferguson said he also looks for familiar companies when he stops by the show, including Northstar Seed Ltd., a company he used to sell for, to rekindle those old connections.

“I’m not a farmer now, but you get in with the farmers and the cattle guys … (they’re) the best group of people you’ll ever want to deal with,” he said.

The show runs until Thursday at Prairieland Park in Saskatoon.