SPOKANE — All things agricultural will be on display the first week of February at the 48th annual Spokane Ag Show at the Spokane Convention Center. The Spokane Ag Show is one of the largest ag expos in the region, said Show Director Melisa Paul.

“A typical year brings in just short of 6,000 attendees,” Paul said. “We’re expecting 230-plus exhibitors and nearly 3,000 exhibitor reps. So far, we’re putting on 47 professional farm forum seminars, which is standard for us.”

Ten of those seminars will be pesticide recertification courses, Paul said. The certified crop applicator, or CCA, credits from those seminars are approved in both Washington and Idaho, and seven of them are approved in Oregon as well. Since a CCA has to earn 40 hours of continuing education credits for every two-year period, the ag show is a good place to get them.

“(This season) is the one time a year we can get these guys off the farm,” Paul said. “It's been a main point of ours to make sure that they're meeting their minimums year over year.”

The seminars offered at the Spokane Ag Show are a mixed bag, and keynote speakers include some impressive names in the ag community. Dr. Art Douglas, known as The Weatherman, is a professor emeritus and climate expert from Creighton University who will deliver an annual forecast on Tuesday. On Wednesday T. Randall Fortenbery, a Spokane Ag Show staple, will share his thoughts on the economic outlook for the year in a number of agricultural spheres. In tandem with him will be CattleFax analyst Duane Lenz.

“We've really seen an increase in cattlemen at our show and cattle products,” Paul said. “We know that a lot of our producers are deeply tied to the ag industry as well.”

Thursday’s program will feature Rob Sharkey, popularly known as The Sharkfarmer. Sharkey, a fifth-generation grain farmer from Illinois, hosts podcasts and radio shows with unconventional perspectives on farming. He also hosts a TV show on RFD-TV that’s now in its ninth season, Paul said.

“He's really authentic, and he asks the hard questions and reaches out to the other side of our world,” Paul said. “His underlying thing is to make sure that agriculture has the right voice out there, and that we're working to correct a lot of the falsities that are out there, and he's done a good job being an advocate.”

Thursday is FFA Day at the Ag Show, Paul said, and Sharkey’s presentation for them will be called “Everyone Thought I Was Crazy.” He’ll also have two smaller breakout sessions later in the day titled “Sharks Don’t Swim Backwards” and “Turn … Engage … Hit Resume.”

“We brought him in about six years ago, and I had the pleasure of doing some of his podcasts with him.,” Paul said. “He's got a massive social media following. I think it's well over two million. So, he has a great reach and is just a fantastic, humble advocate for the industry.”

Smaller seminars will delve into some specialized agronomy and some of the financial and legal niceties of running a modern agricultural operation.

For those times when attendees aren’t sitting in seminars, the main hall will be filled to the gills with exhibitors offering … well, just about everything that can possibly be applied to the ag industry. Equipment dealers, seed dealers and auctioneers will share space with the newest high-tech gadgetry.

New this year to the Spokane Ag Show is a scholarship program. The Spokane Ag Show will present two scholarships of $4,000 and one of $2,000 to high school seniors from the area who plan to study agriculture or ag-related trades.

“We're a nonprofit organization that deeply believes in serving our industry,” Paul said. “A big part of that is promoting and protecting jobs and investments and supporting youth at our next generation and making sure that they're well served.”

SPOKANE AG SHOW

Feb. 4-6

Spokane Convention Center, 202 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.

www.agshow.org.

    WSU Professor T. Randall Fortenbery delivers his ag economic forecast at the 2024 Spokane Ag Show. Fortenbery will return to the show this year.
  

    Four-year-old Kamryn Schroeder, 4, from Wilbur, Washington attempts to land a crop duster in a video game-style simulator at last year’s Spokane Ag Show.