News: Clark County to Host Farm Exhibition in 2022 (2018)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Glewen, Rueth, Halopka

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 12/19/2018

Clark County to Host Farm Exhibition (In 2022 – 7 December 2018)

Clark County to Host Farm Exhibition in 2022

By Kyle VonRuden

Clark County has been selected as the host location for the 2022 Wisconsin Farm Technology Days (WFTD), the largest agricultural trade show in Wisconsin and one of the largest in the country. It will be the third time the event has been hosted in the county, the prior two locations being Owen in 1983 and Loyal in 2005.

The exposition began in 1954 as a project to share university research findings and new industry technology with Wisconsin farmers. It has grown steadily in size and scope since, currently attracting up to 40,000 attendees annually as well as hundreds of small business owners, agriculture trade representatives and researchers from across the Midwest and beyond.

The WFTD state board officially named Clark County as the 2022 site on Dec. 7. According to WFTD general manager Matt Glewen, Clark County was chosen because of its strong agricultural sector, community support and reliable infrastructure.

“The state board [of directors] really looks at the ability of the county to support the show,” Glewen said. “Clark County had a very strong presentation [at our board meeting] in October and very strong letters of recommendation from area agricultural businesses.”

County board member Chuck Rueth played an important role in preparing Clark County’s application to serve as host. He described the 2022 Wisconsin Farm Technology Days as a great opportunity to put Clark County on the map.

“When we host, this will be the first time in four years that [the event] will be, hopefully, back on a dairy farm,” said Reuth. “This way, we’re out there promoting our agriculture industry. We want to showcase our county. We have so much diversification in agriculture here and we’re truly blessed with that.”

One of the most well-known features of WFTD is Tent City, which houses approximately 600 commercial exhibitors as well as several areas dedicated to education, advocacy and entertainment. It will cover around 70 acres and will be complete with electrical power and internet access.

“[Tent City] is usually what people think of when they think of Farm Technology Days,” Glewen said. “It’s essentially a city out in a farm field.”

The exhibition also includes a farm tour and between 200 and 300 acres of field demonstrations, which are designed to share information and techniques with farmers about a variety of different field practices. According to Glewen, typically over half of attendees will participate in the tour at some point over the course of the three-day event.

The scope and character of Farm Technology Days is well established at this point, but its precise location within Clark County likely will not be determined until mid-2020 at the earliest. The process will begin over the coming months with brainstorm sessions between county board representatives, Glewen and UW-Extension crop science agent Richard Halopka to determine timelines and an appropriate process for selecting an executive committee.

“[More information] will be coming in press releases when we get ready to decide what we want to do,” said Rueth. “But people have been coming up to me and they’re so happy [WFTD] is coming back. We just want people to hang on, and we’ll let them know soon how they’ll be able to help out.”

Both Rueth and Glewen emphasized the importance of community collaboration in putting together a successful event. Once the executive committee and sub-committees are formed, over one thousand volunteers will be tasked with helping to organize the exhibition by fund-raising, liaising with potential exhibitors and, when the time comes, setting up Tent City and preparing the surrounding field demonstrations. Glewen said WFTD board of directors refers to this as “the tail of the dragon effect.”

“The real value to the county is when you get a group of 1,200 to 1,500 volunteers who spend three years organizing the show, it develops incredible leadership abilities,” he said. “It’s like a leadership training program, particularly for the younger people who are involved. These relationships become really important in the future as communities try to do other things together. The show is over, but five and ten years later, there are still important ramifications in the county from relationships and friendships that were developed and leadership skills that were developed as part of [hosting] Wisconsin Farm Technology Days.”

Rueth also stressed the importance of young people getting involved with the event. He expects area youth groups to be an integral part of the effort going forward.

“It’s very important to get the young people involved,” he said, “because they’re the ones who will be taking over the county someday. Hosting WFTD will be a great opportunity for them to develop new skills and learn more about the local agriculture industry.”

The selection of Clark County as the 2022 host was announced concurrently with the decision to hold the 2021 exposition at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds in Jefferson, which will be the first show in WFTD history not to be sponsored at the county level. The WFTD state board will served as the official host of that year’s event.

Glewen explained that as Wisconsin’s agriculture industry continues to change and fewer counties are able to host the event, the WFTD Board of Directors may have to rethink the tradition of rotating sites within the state each year.

“At this point, the state board is committed to moving the show around the state as long as there are counties that are interested and willing to host the show,:” said Glewen. “The practical side is that there are fewer and fewer counties that have the ability and resources to host, like smaller agriculture counties and those that just don’t have the farm infrastructure anymore. At least some of the shows will probably move to a more permanent location, like what happened for 2021. My guess is that most likely it will become a combination of the show sponsored by counties and selecting a semi-permanent site, maybe one year out of three. I can see it becoming a hybrid in the next few years.”

Glewen mentioned that the board is way of establishing a permanent site because it may become difficult to maintain attendance considering the size of the state and the diversity of its agriculture sector. Ruth, meanwhile, said that Clark County will be prepared to serve as a future host whatever the WFTD board of directors decides.

“We want to keep promoting WFTD if and when they decide to go to a permanent site,” Rueth said. “Clark County would definitely be interested in putting something together for that.”

Jefferson County will also host next year’s WFTD in late July at Walter’s Grain Farm new Johnson Creek. The 2020 exhibition will take place at Huntsinger Farms in Eau Claire.