I love agricultural shows! I'm not really sure where that love came from. I have an early memory of going to the Picton Show as a small child, and I remember seeing cattle being judged. I'm certain they were Charolais because in my mind they were big white animals. While Picton is now close to the outskirts of Sydney, the Royal Easter Show was too far for us to go to until I was much older.
As a school student my desire to be involved in agriculture led me towards the school cattle showing team. So much of my extra curricular activity involved preparing steers, and weekends away at local shows in the Southern Highlands, and finally taking steers to the Sydney Royal Easter Show.
Somewhere along the way, I made a switch from being an exhibitor and competitor in the showing, and became one of the organisers. In my final year at university I was holding the position of Secretary of the Picton Show.
When I moved to Glen Innes, I was a member of the show society and at one stage was responsible for the Prime Cattle Section and Feedlot Competition.
Now my involvement with shows is through my role as a Councillor of the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW. So almost 25 years after this picture was taken I'm now helping to run the competitions that in many ways launched my career into agriculture.
So with that background and passion for agricultural shows, I am always interested in the comments and often criticisms that get levelled at shows. I reckon a lot of it is unfair. I am equally ready to admit there are always things to improve. If you think something is perfect, then I reckon you aren't trying hard enough to progress.
Today I saw some criticism on social media about local shows. The comments ranged from the poor numbers of animals being exhibited, through to low prize money and lack of sponsors.
This comes off a recent series of discussions by dairy industry representatives regarding farmer interaction and industry promotion that started in a blog, and spilled over to The Land.
So my question to people is what do you want from your show?
Shows initially were one of the only ways farmers could benchmark their production methods against their peers; to obtain expert advice and critique from judges and to learn from others new ways to go about their businesses. There certainly is nothing like competition to bring out the desire in individuals to do better!
The reality is, industries change. For many producers there are other ways that they can learn new techniques, can benchmark and measure their production systems. Unlike the agricultural landscape of 50 years ago, access to experts is not restricted to a judge in a competition.
Sadly this means some competitions decline or disappear. And while that is sad, it is reflection of the direction of agricultural industries to move forward with technology and research.
The critics often want to say the problem is there should be more prize money and sponsorship on offer. I think we would all like to have more money and sponsorship for our competitions! Again, the challenge is to find businesses that can afford sponsorship and money to support competitions. In local communities, small businesses can only afford so much on advertising and sponsorship.
Often that money has to be spread across a lot of worthwhile community events, not just the show. The reality is, does the show deserve more money than the local sporting teams, or to support local service clubs or even just to advertise business in traditional formats.
Having said that, its certainly not all doom and gloom! Agricultural shows seem to respond to the changes in their industries in different ways. New industries often find a way of promoting themselves into the area through local shows and establishing competitions.
Alpacas, utes, goats, young farmer challenges, are some of the more obvious competitions I can think of. More unusual ones include home brewing and wine making.
So I reckon the first thing is, if you don't think theres enough competition or focus on agriculture, why is that? If you can recognise your area has a different focus on agriculture, and you want to see competition, than maybe joining the committee and helping arrange competition is a start.
I know some people feel committees are dominated by older established identities who don't like change. I think that is an unfair thing to level at committees. Many committees, and certainly every show society I have been a member of, has been welcoming and pleased to have new people becoming involved and sharing the work load! The challenge is to join a committee and not expect to be running the show straight away!
I also think the recent discussion regarding farmers expected to share industry messages and promote the industry to the broader community. Its a bit of a tough one. Producers who choose to compete are there for reasons that range from promotion of their operation to potential clients, not necessarily promotion to the broader population. They are at a show to demonstrate or test their skills, ability or their knowledge.
I reckon you have to focus on your reason for being there. Yes interact with the public, and answer questions when you are asked. Thats not just common sense, its also politeness. But can you spend your time interacting with large numbers of peopled provide the messages that the industry wants shared with the community? I don't think thats a realistic expectation to place on exhibitors or on a show society in general.
If an industry, like the dairy industry, or the red meat industry wants to share messages with the public, then it should be the role of the industries marketing and promotion bodies to do this. Thats why they are funded through levies!
The role of the show societies is to encourage those organisations to be part of local, regional or state hows, by providing the venues and assistance to share those messages. But ultimately to expect a show committee or an exhibitor to do broader promotion is asking them to take on new roles, and potentially detract fro the roles they should be focussed on.
So what do you expect from your show? I reckon if you are treating your show like an agricultural zoo, wanting to see examples of industries that may or may not exist in your community, then you are being unrealistic. If you are expecting big prize money on offer, but begrudge paying entry fees or offering to help find some sponsorship, you are being unrealistic. If you expect a committee to offer competitions or events and then don't support them of contribute to them, then don't complain when those events are no longer conducted.
I guess in short, we all expect a lot of things in agriculture. Our local shows, our regional shows and our state shows, are a way of celebrating our industry and demonstrating the excitement that should exist every day in agriculture. But the show can only celebrate these things if people are prepared to keep it relevant and to help shape the show in a way that celebrates the way agriculture is practiced in your local area.