By NATE KING
Salina Post
The 58th Annual Mid America Farm Expo is in the books. Every year, people from all corners of the Midwest come to Salina to learn about, celebrate and showcase the latest advancements in agriculture.
This year's event, was no exception. According to the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce, more than 4,000 visitors made their way through the more than 250 exhibits that were on display representing approximately 275 ag-centered companies from around the United States.
With so much buzz around the event, we can't help but wonder what made it such a success?
58th Annual Mid America Farm Expo - an overview
The 58th Mid America Farm Expo was held from March 22 to March 24, at the Tony's Pizza Event Center, 800 The Midway, in Salina.
Each day of the event was packed with informative seminars talking about agriculture market outlooks, the importance of succession planning and the state of carbon programs.
The expo was organized by the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce Agriculture Steering Committee in partnership with K-State Research and Extension.
According to the chamber, the expo began 58 years ago as an Agriculture Committee of the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce project. It was named the Salina Materials Handling Show and had 44 exhibits on display on the Saline County Fairgrounds, now called the Saline County Livestock and Expo Center.
Succession planning with Shannon Ferrell
One of the highlights of the expo was keynote speaker, Shannon Ferrell, agriculture economics professor at Oklahoma State University. Ferrell delivered a humorous, engaging and informative lecture on the importance of farmers and ag producers to be prepared and get started on succession planning.
Topics Ferrell discussed included:
● How to go about selecting legal guardianship
● Rural mental health and how to manage farm stress
● Establishing powers of attorney for business and healthcare
● How and why it is important to create a will
● Understanding trusts, whether they are the best financial tool for you
● Prenuptial agreements
● Family dynamics and how they play a role in succession planning
"At the end of the day, I gave a workshop for 200 people in Illinois, and I asked principal operators, their spouses, their successors and their successors spouses, 'What is the most important thing to you in the process of succession planning?' They unanimously said- keep the family relationships intact. That is what is most important," Ferrell said.
Ferrell said as families navigate the process of succession planning, nine times out of ten, they are shocked to learn how much they have in common with their family members.
"I hope your farms succeed and prosper for generations to come, but more importantly, I want your families to prosper, and if you can take the bull by the horns and really confront these issues in a positive, open, honest way, you can not just have farm success but you can have family success as well," Ferrell said. "For farmers and ranchers, we love to see stuff grow. So my wish for you is that in this process, you can see what you have sown, and reap that harvest and watch them prosper."
Carbon credits: concrete ways to monetize
Carbon credits refer to a tradable permit or certificate that offsets the emission of one ton of carbon dioxide or another greenhouse gas by the credit holder. Large corporations – like McDonalds and Microsoft – have recently announced voluntary efforts to reduce carbon emissions by contributing to a carbon credit market.
Micah Cameron-Harp is a doctoral graduate from the Department of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University, where he currently works as a post-doctoral fellow.
Cameron-Harp's current work was the subject of his presentation at the farm expo. His post-doctoral fellowship focuses on voluntary markets for agricultural carbon offsets.
Since the carbon credit market is relatively new and there is limited data on participation, Cameron-Harper uses a spatial micro-simulation approach, which considers how things change over space rather than just between individuals, groups or periods of time, in an effort to determine their efficiency in terms of voluntary agricultural carbon offset programs.
To learn more about Cameron-Harper's research regarding carbon tax credits and more, click here.
Other expo events and photos
On March 22, more than 400 people attended the Banker's Luncheon, sponsored by local banking institutions, Bennington State Bank, Equity Bank, First Bank Kansas, Bank of Tescott, Central National Bank and Solomon State Bank.
Salina-based Land Pride is a company that is proud of its Midwestern roots. Land Pride, a Division of Great Plains Mfg., Inc., has been a leader in grounds maintenance equipment since its inception in 1986.
The company is a leader in tractor-mounted implements and Kubota-branded construction attachments that include rotary tillers, grooming mowers, seeders, rotary cutters, rear blades, snow blowers, grapples, buckets, concrete claws, hopper brooms, hydraulic breakers, and more.
Mark Johnson, territory manager for Land Pride, said that since the pandemic, more people are spending time at home and saving money from travel, causing an increase in sales.
"People are spending more time at home with family, and doing home improvement projects, which require implements and tractors that we sell at Land Pride," Johnson said.
In the same way the circumstances surrounding the pandemic caused more people to invest in property maintenance, it also complicated supply chains that were responsible for carrying crucial mechanical components to Salina.
"Hiring and expansion within our companies matched with supply and demand we had a lot of the components in manufacturing that were running short," Johnson said. "Like you have heard all over the world, sitting in a container just off the coast."
Luckily, Land Pride has leveraged its community support and has outsourced a portion of its manufacturing to local welders.
"We've been in contact with and are working with just about every local weld shop within 50 miles of Salina," said Land Pride employee Jeremy Howze.
The chamber said it takes volunteers with "impressive attributes" in order to showcase the very best hospitality and willingness to help make expo attendees' time enjoyable and worth their stop.
Stephanie Gillig, events and community initiatives director for the chamber, said exhibitors told her the main reason they come back year after year is because of the hard work and dedication demonstrated by the volunteers, especially those who help unload and load equipment.
"I want to say a huge thank you to the chamber Agriculture steering committee and all of our fabulous volunteers, and Carl Garten," Gillig said "Carl single handedly knows the layout, and recognizes the exhibitors needs before they know what they need. He knows the attendees that come through the door and his sense of humor and dedication to the expo is top notch."
Gillig also said multiple vendors told her following the expo that this what their best year yet, saying they had great conversations with prospective buyers.
"Long McArthur said, it was one of the best years they've ever had. They sold three vehicles from just at the farm show," Gillig said.
Cade Rensink, Kansas State Research and Extension Central Kansas District director and organizer behind the expo's presenters, said farm shows like the Mid America Farm Expo are not as common as they were 25 years ago.
"There's always this speculation about how relevant our farm shows anymore? And how likely is it that people just won't come some year? Obviously, online marketing, and those types of things have have been a challenge for us," Rensink said. "But I think one of the things that makes us unique in the farm show world is that we're pretty much 100% volunteer driven, it's local. We don't have an outside promoter that organizes it and puts it on for us."
Rensink said a vast majority of farm shows that occur, are done by large promoter, often times out of state.
"We've all got a vested interest in it from a local standpoint, because it's a product of Salina for Salina and central Kansas and that's what really sets us apart from virtually every other show that's out there. I can't speak for all of them in Kansas, but I know several of them fairly well, and they're all put on by a third party and we're, our own," Rensink said.
Gillig said with this being her first time helping organize the Farm Expo, having Rensink's expertise and knowledge of trending agricultural topics helped craft an engaging and informative discussion following each of the presentations.
The arena, lobby and Great Plains Manufacturing Exhibition Hall, plus Ag Hall and parking lot were all full of exhibitors showcasing products from more than 275 ag-centered companies from around the United States.
