Farming is Center Stage at World Ag Expo-

Exposition returns to in-person format this year

Major farm equipment manufacturers, such as John Deere, have massive displays of their tractors and other implements at the World Ag Expo in Tulare.  Photo: Steve Newvine

Where is the largest John Deere tractor dealer in the nation this week? 

Try the exposition grounds at the World Ag Expo in Tulare County.

So is Massey Fergueson, Kubota, and just about every other name in agriculture equipment. 

They are all in Tulare.

For over fifty years, agricultural producers from all over the United States have been coming to the Expo in the heart of the state’s Central Valley.

The Expo is a showcase of the latest in farm equipment, the newest technology to help growers, and a social event bringing farmers together in a positive environment.

Ag producers in the tens of thousands come to the World Ag Expo to see the latest farm equipment and technology.  Photo:  Steve Newvine

The 2022 version of the event is special because it is the first time since COVID that the Expo is back as an in-person activity. 

The Expo was an online event in 2021. 

The pandemic forced organizers to rethink the presentation to protect attendees.  But this year, protocols are in place and the Expo is open for business.  

 “2020 was our last live show,” said International Agri Center Marketing Manager Jennifer Fawkes.  “We’re following outdoor show requirements this year.” 

Those COVID protocols require masks indoors.  No vaccine or test status will be checked.  

Public utility companies such as Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Gas, and Southern California Edison (not pictured) come to the World Ag Expo to meet their customers and help them save money.  Photos by Steve Newvine

The World Ag Expo is produced by the International Agri-Center , a non-profit organization dedicated to farm education and agriculture promotion.  What started in 1968 as a farm show on seventy acres has expanded over the years.  

The International Agri-Center has grown to over seven-hundred acres.  The Agri-Center, Expo site, and parking lots use up about forty-percent of the total acreage.  The rest is farmland where some of the Valley’s signature crops such as almonds, cotton, and hay are raised.

Over one-hundred thousand people attended the last Expo held in-person on-site in 2020.  Organizers expect this year will experience an even higher attendance.  There are nearly fifteen-hundred exhibitors showing off the latest in farm equipment, agriculture products, and business technology available to this segment of the economy.

An estimated thirty-plus area non-profit organizations use the event as a fund-raising opportunity by selling food to hungry Expo visitors.

“Tulare is a close-knit community,” one of the volunteers said.  “We have a legacy of giving back and this Expo has a tradition of giving back by letting groups raise money for their causes.”

These volunteers staffed a media center at the World Ag Expo. Over twelve-hundred volunteers are recruited to help with all kinds of duties such as directing parking, troubleshooting technical issues with vendors, and assisting attendees. Photo: Steve Newvine.

The International Agri-Center is led by an all-volunteer board of directors, a full-time staff, and more than twelve hundred volunteers who offer their time to work the Expo.

Without the volunteers, most of what happens during these early February days at the Expo would simply not be possible.

Seminars ranging from cooking to workforce challenges are offered over the course of the four-day World Ag Expo.  Photo:  Steve Newvine

The regional economy benefits from the deluge of visitors to the World Ag Expo.  Local hotels fill up, area dining establishments are busy, and other retail cash registers are ringing.

But more important to the economy is the activity among the vendors who connect with area agricultural producers to provide information on the latest equipment, software technology, and new ideas.

“We did an economic impact study on the event in 2020,” Jennifer Fawkes said.  “World Ag Expo had a fifty-two million dollar impact on California two years ago.”

That economic impact study measured hotel room nights, restaurant attendance, and miscellaneous retail among the attendees and vendors connected with the Expo.  Ag sales between vendors and farmers were not measured. 

But the vendors attest to the value of meeting their customers face to face to explain the latest in equipment, technology, and products.

“What’s important to us is making that face-to-face connection with the customer,” says Sheldon Litwiller of  Litwiller Fabrication, an ag building solutions company.  “A sale may come later, but for us the purpose of the show is to let the customer know how we can help them.”

Most of the vendors here agree there’s nothing quite like an in-person trade show to connect sellers to buyers.  

COVID forced many of these industry showcases to either postpone their events over the past year and a half or move them to an online format.

But everyone knew it just wasn’t the same.  

Trade shows get customers out of their businesses and into an environment with similar business operators. 

Vendors can establish a rapport with a customer from a brief greeting as they pass by a display booth. 

Questions may get answered. 

Trust begins to build. 

“Our customers are important,” says Matt Daley of Waikato Milking Systems, an automation solutions company for dairies.  “But equally important is our company’s support of the distributors and retailers who work with the customers.  This is our way to say thanks to them as well.”

So whether it’s the big equipment manufacturers who want the large exposition space, the non-profit organizations that earn a big portion of their annual budgets, or the farmer and his family coming out to meet other farmers, there’s a lot of support for the return of an in-person World Ag Expo.

The tradition continues in Tulare County.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced

His latest book A Bundle of Memories is available exclusively at Lulu.com at a special price.