When Leah Jones took the opportunity to lead the revitalization of one of Canada’s top livestock shows, she returned to an institution that played an earlier role in her impressive career.
In addition to previously working as the agriculture director for Edmonton’s Northlands, Jones was a dedicated volunteer with the organization for many years and served on its board of directors. There, she brought her professional experience and perspective from the agriculture industry to help shape the vision for Farmfair International, just as she’s doing now as the new director of this prestigious cattle show.
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“When the opportunity came … I was very intrigued and very passionate to get back to Farmfair and working with the people that I know in the industry that I love,” she says. “I have a huge desire to see it be successful again,” says Jones, who also raises cattle with her family at Westlock, Alta.
Jones’s passion for agriculture began on her parents’ mixed beef farm, where at its height they ran 600 head of purebred Simmentals and Simmental-Hereford commercial cattle. Her excitement for raising cattle lent itself well to her time showing beef projects in 4-H.
“There were four of us kids, and we’d be loading up 18 head of animals to take to the achievement day because we were in every beef project that you could be in,” she recalls. “Not only myself but my family have a huge love and passion for cattle.”
While studying agriculture at the University of Alberta, Jones worked for the 4-H regional office in Barrhead, Alta., leading her into several professional positions at high-profile agriculture organizations. This includes corporate sponsorship for Agriculture Financial Services Corporation, agriculture and livestock programming at the Calgary Stampede, community investment with UFA and municipal economic development roles. Her most recent position was CEO of the 4-H Foundation of Alberta.
At the heart of these experiences are the people involved, and she’s found this to be the case in the skill set required to be successful in these organizations. “You need to be able to make connections — so connections with the folks in the industry, connections with corporate sponsors, connections with organizations that make the business world tick,” she says.
“And you need to be authentic. You need to be real. So if you can establish those business relationships and those connections, it’s tremendously important in terms of reaching your goals.”
A new start for a beloved cattle show
With a history spanning more than 45 years, Farmfair International is the largest beef cattle exhibition in Alberta. But even before COVID-19 forced the cancellation of live events in 2020, the Northlands organization was experiencing uncertainty, and the future of Farmfair was up in the air.
In June 2021, Explore Edmonton, the city’s destination management and marketing organization, announced that it would be formally taking over the management of both Farmfair and Klondike Days from Northlands, which ceased operations in the summer. These key events, as well as the Edmonton Pro Rodeo and the Edmonton Urban Farm, now fall under the organization’s Community and Signature Events portfolio.
“With our expanded focus, Explore Edmonton looks forward to re-imagining these events and gathering places to drive more community and stakeholder value than ever before,” states the organization’s website.
Later that summer, Explore Edmonton announced that Jones would be returning to Farmfair International as the show’s director, citing her professional experience as integral to relaunching the event after being postponed in 2020.
“Leah’s vast industry experience will help position Farmfair International as the premier Canadian livestock show and help attract international buyers into our city and support this important provincial industry,” said Arlindo Gomes, vice-president of business development and venue management, in a press release.
With that, Farmfair 2021 was in the works, with great anticipation from exhibitors who rely on this annual platform to market their genetics.
“This was a critical show. The Explore Edmonton organization understands the value of Farmfair International in terms of economic impact to the city, the region, the importance to the exhibitors and the importance of business being done and connecting rural and urban,” says Jones.
“What they’ve done is they have sparked confidence, they have sparked excitement and we get to paint the picture of what Farmfair moving forward is going to look like — not only just to Edmonton or even Western Canadian exhibitors, but what it’s going to look like as we put Edmonton and Farmfair International on the global map.”
Staging a successful comeback
The show’s theme for 2021 was “Back to Business,” reflecting the willingness of those in the beef industry to reconnect with each other in person, and this was illustrated in the more than 1,000 entries from B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario.
“We still do business on handshakes, and I think people were really, really ready to come back to a platform like Farmfair where they can meet face-to-face and talk about their cattle and show their genetics to potential buyers and reconnect or re-establish the relationship they had pre-COVID,” says Jones.
“So this face-to-face, on-site venue was critically important for the exhibitors, and they came out in force to take up that opportunity to do business.”
Also attractive to exhibitors this year was the substantial investment of more than $300,000 in prize money and scholarships awarded during the week, making Farmfair both Canada’s richest cattle show and the richest supreme show.
Another highlight was the continuation of the international buyers’ program, all the more valuable at a time when travelling internationally isn’t as simple as usual. This has been a crucial part of past shows, resulting in approximately $1 million annually on average over the last decade in international sales, Jones reports, and with marketing frozen genetics resulting in a potentially greater reach and value compared to individual live animals.
“This year, we made the commitment to continue with our international program just because of its importance to the exhibitors, and we did have success,” she says. About 20 delegates representing Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, Scotland, South Africa and the United States travelled to Edmonton to see Canadian genetics first-hand.
“They were tremendous delegates; not only did they take in the show but they actually made it back to some of the farms to look at more of the progeny around those animals.”
While the wrap-up report for the 2021 edition was in progress at the time of writing, the outlook was overwhelmingly positive.
“I think that our Farmfair 2021 was a huge success. There was great positivity with the exhibitors,” says Jones. “We had tremendous exhibitor support, we had corporate partner support and business was being done, and people left the event very satisfied, very happy and were sending compliments to Explore Edmonton and Farmfair.”
After celebrating the success of Farmfair’s return, Jones and her team are looking ahead to the show’s future leading up to its 50th anniversary in 2024. “The goal this year was to have a solid, successful Farmfair, and we were able to do that. Now we are switching gears … We’re already starting to imagine what’s possible. We’re talking with partners that are reaching out to us that are interested in doing something with our event.
“So we’re just getting started in terms of what that vision could look like, and as soon as we engage the partners and the community and all the folks that need to be engaged and figure out what we want Farmfair to be moving forward, we will certainly share that. There’s various ways we could go; it’s just identifying the one way and then making sure that everything we do, every decision we make goes to supporting that vision.”
Regardless of the direction chosen, Jones anticipates that Farmfair’s track record for attracting the very best in Canadian beef genetics will continue to be at the centre of the show.
“The province of Alberta has a reputation for beef and genetics, and I think that’s one of the things that we want to hang our hat on in terms of reputation and promotion moving forward,” she says.
“If you’re serious about the business, you must come to Alberta, and Farmfair International provides a platform for the world to meet to talk about those genetics and those cattle.”
