Thousands expected at Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show in Woodstock, Ont.

Ontario’s largest outdoor farm show is expecting to welcome thousands of visitors over the next few days.

Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show is taking place on Oxford Road 17 in Woodstock, Ont. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, highlighting some of the latest technology focused on the agricultural sector.

"We have over 500 volunteers over the three days from the local area here, so we really want to give back to the local community. But the exhibitors come from all areas of the country," said Rob O’Connor, business development lead and show director for Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show.

The show opened with an Innovation in Agriculture Reception where several companies were honoured for their cutting-edge developments.

It’s the 31^st edition of the three-day festival.

“We love having Canada’s outdoor farm show here in the city of Woodstock,” said Mayor of Woodstock, Jerry Acchione. “The excitement it brings to the city, and of course to our hotels and restaurants and businesses in general is good for everyone.”

In the past, over 36,000 people have attended the event to check out new equipment, learn advanced livestock handling techniques, and discover more efficient ways of doing business.

The Minister of Agriculture, food and Agribusiness says Ontario continues to try and grow the industry, one that already has a major impact on the province’s economy.

“51 billion dollars of GDP in Ontario and over 26.2 billion dollars of agri-food exports,” said Minister Rob Flack. “Up 10 per cent year over year. And up 65 per cent since 2018. It’s a driving, growing, thriving industry.”

Senator Robert Black was also in attendance on Tuesday to tout a new report on soil health in Canada that asks the government to make soil a national asset.

“We need to protect our soils. We need to have an advocate in Government that speaks for soils at the federal level. We need to work with provinces, municipalities, to make sure that we protect the farmland that we have,” said Black.

While the show is meant to give farmers and people in agribusiness an opportunity to get together and talk about innovation, a big focus of this year’s show is attracting international businesses to Canadian agriculture.

"We're advanced, our technology is advanced. So they come here to learn a lot of new technologies, buy our technologies, to take it back to their countries to try to improve what they're doing," said O’Connor.

A representative with the Italian Trade Agency says there is trade both ways between the two countries.

"We're very impressed by this show,” said Marco Saladini, trade commissioner. “It's big, it's very organized, and we're really happy to be here to try to make inroads in this beautiful countryside that you have."