2023 Amarillo Farm & Ranch Show sees more exhibitors, education opportunities

From Staff Reports
·5 min read

The Amarillo Farm & Ranch Show is slated for Tuesday through Thursday, Nov. 28-30, at the Amarillo Civic Center, located at 401 S. Buchanan St. The show returns with more exhibitors and increased opportunities for ag producers to gain certifications and knowledge to help grow their operations, according to organizers.

"This popular trade show is back again in 2023 with over 360 exhibit spaces at the Amarillo Civic Center. Companies are exhibiting a variety of products and services at the show including large harvesting and planting equipment for crops such as cotton, corn, wheat and hay, seed varieties, livestock equipment, tools, and insurance and banking services," a news release states. "Several dozen exhibitors are new to the show. Attendees can visit dealers and see brands such as John Deere, BASF, Massey Ferguson and Polaris."

The Amarillo Farm and Ranch Show opened in November 2022 with over 500 exhibitors for the public to visit for free at the Amarillo Civic Center, as seen in this file photo. This year's show is slated to begin Tuesday and run through Thursday.
The Amarillo Farm and Ranch Show opened in November 2022 with over 500 exhibitors for the public to visit for free at the Amarillo Civic Center, as seen in this file photo. This year's show is slated to begin Tuesday and run through Thursday.
Attendees look over a Roxor utility vehicle at the 2022 IDEAg Farm and Ranch Show at the Amarillo Civic Center in this file photo.
Attendees look over a Roxor utility vehicle at the 2022 IDEAg Farm and Ranch Show at the Amarillo Civic Center in this file photo.

In addition, an increased number of exhibitors will provide holiday shopping opportunities at this year's show. Admission and parking are free. For a full list of exhibitors, visit AmarilloFarmShow.com.

Along with the exhibitis and vendors, there will be more educational opportunities at the show this year.

On Tuesday, new events include two livestock education sessions conducted by the Texas Tech School of Veterinary Medicine: Basic Husbandry for Sheep and Goats, and Bull Management. Livestock producers can get certified or re-certified at the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension's Beef Quality Assurance Training at 1 p.m., and new topics will be covered at its returning CEU Workshop. The AgriLife sessions will be held in the civic center's Grand Plaza Ballroom.

The Texas Wheat Symposium and the Cotton Conference return on Wednesday. The Texas Wheat Symposium is presented by the Texas Wheat Growers Association, with a market outlook and farm policy discussion. The Ag Appreciation Luncheon, hosted jointly with the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce Ag Council, will return with serving lines open at 11:45 a.m. There will be keynote address for the free lunch event, called "A Conflict Older Than Bread: Bridging the Urban/Rural Gap by Vance Crowe." Crowe is founder of Legacy Interviews in St. Louis, Missouri.

The Cotton Conference features cotton experts from around the High Plains, who will cover topics including cotton growing and marketing opportunities, and related domestic and global issues.

Thursday's events include a financial education course called Managing Data, Risk and Market Cycles: How Farms Grow Profits, starting at 10 a.m. 4-H and FFA students are invited to attend the Panhandle Ag Education Day on Thursday starting at 10:30 a.m. A career panel will be followed by a scavenger hunt through the trade show to learn about the ag industry from panelists and exhibitors.

Scouting for sorghum and wheat pests will be one of the topics that will be discussed during the Nov. 28 continuing education units workshop.
Scouting for sorghum and wheat pests will be one of the topics that will be discussed during the Nov. 28 continuing education units workshop.

AgriLife workshops offer continuing education credits

The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service will be offering multiple educational programming events during the show.

The Amarillo Farm Show CEU Workshop will be held on Tuesday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with registration at 8 a.m. and the program beginning at 8:45 a.m. Registration cost is $40. An RSVP is requested, but not required, to Megan Eikner, AgriLife Extension agriculture and natural resources agent in Potter County, at megan.eikner@ag.tamu.edu. AgriLife notes that checks need to be payable to the Potter Ag Committee, and participants are required to bring their current Texas Department of Agriculture applicator cards during registration. Breakfast and lunch will also be provided to those registered. A total of five TDA continuing education units will be available for those completing the workshop, including two general units, two integrated pest management units and one laws and regulations unit, AgriLife said.

The workshop's program will feature a laws and regulations update from Cheryl Goswick, TDA inspector, Amarillo, and a scout school basics of field scouting and pest control decisions. The scout school topics will include sorghum and wheat scouting tools and pests with Jourdan Bell, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension agronomist, Amarillo; scouting tools at various stages of growth and pests in cotton with John Thobe, AgriLife Extension integrated pest management agent, Muleshoe; and sorghum, corn and cotton pest entomology with José Santiago-González, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension entomologist, Amarillo.

A beef quality assurance training program with Jason Smith, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension beef cattle specialist and Department of Animal Science assistant professor, Amarillo, as guest speaker will be held 1-5 p.m. Tuesday in the Hospitality Room. AgriLife said the program is for those who need certification or re-certification on the best practices in beef quality assurance, including residue avoidance, vaccine handling, proper injection handling, genetic selection, environmental stewardship and cattle handling and welfare. To RSVP, contact education@tscra.org or call 817-916-1753.

During Wednesday's Texas Wheat Symposium that begins at 10:30 a.m., a wheat market outlook will be presented by Mark Welch, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension grain marketing economist, and a farm policy outlook will be presented by Joe Outlaw, Ph.D., co-director of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University and AgriLife Extension economist. Both are professors in the Texas A&M Department of Agricultural Economics in Bryan-College Station.

Participants will learn how to properly control brush on their land during the Grassland Management and Grazing Decision Aids for Landowners seminar.
Participants will learn how to properly control brush on their land during the Grassland Management and Grazing Decision Aids for Landowners seminar.

AgriLife Extension will immediately follow the luncheon with the Grassland Management and Grazing Decision Aids for Landowners seminar at 1:30 p.m.; Laura Goodman, Ph.D., associate professor, Natural Resource Ecology and Management and Extension specialist, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, will be one of the featured speakers. Goodman will speak on brush control, stockpiling for drought and improving forage quality with patch-burn grazing. Also on the agenda is a panel discussion with local ranchers Mike Turner and Clint Hoelting, discussing the pros and cons of management practices implemented on farms and ranches in the Texas Panhandle region. The program will adjourn around 4 p.m.

In addition, the AgriLife Extension is leading a Blue Jean Drive, in cooperation with America’s Cotton Producers and Importers. As part of the Blue Jeans Go Green project, which is designed to keep old denim from going to landfills, participants will be able to donate old denim items during a denim recycling event at the show. The donated jeans will then be taken and used to make eco-friendly denim insulation for communities in need.

To learn more about the speakers, schedule and to register for events, attendees are asked to visit the Amarillo Farm & Ranch Show website.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo Farm & Ranch Show returns to civic center Nov. 28-30