Exhibitors celebrate 40-year milestone at Crop Production Show

There are more than 300 exhibitors at this year’s Western Canadian Crop Production Show, but only 10 of them have been there throughout the show’s 40-year history.

“We’ve just been coming forever,” said Trevor Fleischfresser, with Syngenta.

AstraZeneca and Novartis both attended the show in its first years, Fleischfresser explained, and that annual tradition continued on after the two companies merged to create Syngenta.

“Lots of good interactions with lots of good customers,” is what Fleishfresser said keeps them coming back year after year.

Syngenta joined a list of nine other exhibitors that have attended the show for the full four decades it’s run.

The list also includes Bourgault Industries, Brandt Agricultural Products, Canadian Grain Commission, Cargill Unlimited, Morris Industries Ltd., the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, SeCan, University of Saskatchewan Crop Development Centre and Viterra.

The 10 exhibitors to hit the 40-year mark were recognized by the Western Canadian Crop Production Show during an evening event Monday.

Fleischfresser said he’s personally been coming to the show for about two decades.

“There’s always something,” he shared. “We always, as a crew, have fun and have fun with our customers when they come and try to provide them with relevant information.”

Fleischfresser said local representation means a lot to customers, and that’s why all of Syngenta’s representatives at the show are from Saskatchewan.

“We have people from all over the province, so we tend to know exactly what people are looking for and what they’re looking for (in) interactions with us,” he said.

Fleischfresser said he enjoys seeing the company’s province-wide staff coming together under one roof and reconnecting with familiar faces he doesn’t always get to see.

Blaine Duncan, Cargill’s region commercial leader for Saskatchewan, echoed Fleischfresser’s fondness for the show.

Duncan said the show is a special one, because not only is it one of the largest trade shows in western Canada, but it’s also right in his own backyard.

“We would never consider not coming to the Western Canadian Crop Production Show,” he said.

Duncan said the Cargill team always looks forward to the show, as it brings together customers and suppliers with the newest technology in the farming industry all in one place.

“It’s just a great event where everybody in the whole industry comes together,” Duncan said.