Another Agribition is in the books!  What an amazing experience it is each year, and this year was no different.  Our staff was all hands-on deck during Agribition which took place November 19^th to 24^th.  Agribition is a place where all sectors of Agriculture come together for a magnificent showcase of what the industry has to offer, providing the perfect opportunity for urban and rural students to experience many of the wonderful things our industry has to offer.

Our partnership with the Canadian Western Agribition allows us to create an educational experience for students of all ages to join in the Agribition fun and learn about agriculture.  Our team, along with countless industry partners and volunteers, reached over 12,000 students during the week of Agribition through the following programs.

thinkAG Career Expo

Almost 600 students from rural, urban, and First Nations schools in the Southern half of the province were exposed to the possibility of a career in agriculture at our thinkAG Career Expo.  Engaging high school students in agricultural experiences is increasingly important as industry demand for talented people grows. The Expo provided the opportunity for students to rotate through seven interactive stations where they interacted with professionals working in a specific sector to learn about their career paths.  

'Attending thinkAG provides students and opportunity to explore a variety of ag careers all in one place'. – AnnaLee Parnetta, Yorkton

'The expo is an excellent way for the students who are not familiar with agriculture to learn about the wide variety of careers in this area.' – JoAnne Gelowitz, Regina

Ag-Mazing Challenge & Agri-Ed Program

Three days of Agribition included an Ag-Mazing Challenge where 740 middle years students participated in a scavenger hunt throughout the Agribition grounds.  They were provided questions about agriculture and had to explore the grounds to find predetermined booths that hosted information required to answer each question. These students came from sixteen different urban schools from Regina and the surrounding areas.

Each day during the week elementary students visited Agribition through the Agri-Ed Program.  The all-day field trip included visiting many different areas of the grounds and participating in displays such as the live milking demonstration or visiting animals at the Family Pavilion.  Over 2,000 students walked through the Agribition gates each day as part of this program.

‘Students gained an in-depth hands-on experience that was self-driven and provided ample opportunities for students to explore SK agriculture in any area that interested them...provided students with a starter for conversation where they may have just passed by without engaging.’ -Shawn White, St. Marguerite School, Regina

 ‘(AgMazing Challenge) gives some purposed direction to the Agribition visit. Awesome hands-on activities.’ --Devon Peters, Massey School, Regina

Agribition attracts over 120,000 people from all over the world, so bringing a group of young students can be a challenging task.  Hundreds of parent and teacher volunteers joined in with the students to help make these educational experiences possible.  Volunteers were also a crucial part of providing the programming by running booths for the students to visit.  Here is what our volunteers had to say:

'It was nice being able to speak with students about grains in general. Some of the kids were very interested to hear about how different grains are used.' --John Sawicz, Canadian Grain Commission

'Gives urban students and chance to ask questions about farming and realize the importance of farming.' --Travis Quirk, SimplyAg Solutions

We look forward to #CWA19!