Patrons browse around at different vendor booths on Wednesday during the second annual Ag Connections Conference.--News Photo Anna Smith
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
The second year of the Ag Connections Conference saw significant growth, building on the success of the inaugural year.
More than 500 attendees and 50 vendors spent Wednesday within the Cypress Centre, a significant expansion from the initial attendance of the first year.
“It’s been going really well. All the speakers were able to make it, thanks to the weather co-operating,” said Beth Cash, economic development officer for Cypress County. “Last year we had 340 attendees and 22 vendors, I believe, so seeing everyone here has been really exciting.”
The event was initially based on feedback that Cypress County Economic Development received, that they felt there weren’t enough opportunities for the agricultural sector to network and get to know different organizations and services that were available in the region, and the conference was born to meet that need, said Cash.
“In the morning, we started with networking and an opportunity for people to go through the booths, then we had different sessions, a talk on mental health in agriculture, an economic outlook speaker, a panel on innovation, we’ve been discussing AI in agriculture with a keynote,” said Cash.
Other topics included the benefits of farm safety, drought readiness and the use of drones on the farm, as well as others. The conference opened bright and early at 7:30 a.m, and ran until 6 p.m. Wednesday, with 16 different sessions for interested producers.
“The entire purpose of this is to support the growth and development of producers in southeastern Alberta so that agriculture in southeastern Alberta can be sustainable for many, many years to come,” said Cash. “Here in Cypress, that’s mainly our family-run farms and small operations, which is we’re trying to focus on and just offer them the resources and connections and support to be able to run their operations for many years.”
Cash was overwhelmed and grateful for the participation of everyone who made this possible, and looks forward to seeing how the event can be even better in 2025.
