The 69th Annual Mid-South Farm and Gin Show will be held but with a few COVID restrictions. The annual get-together that draws participants from several states celebrates its members and has awards as well as offering plenty of educational opportunities. This year’s event will be held Friday, February 26 and Saturday, February 27 at the Renasant Convention Center at 255 North Main Street, in Memphis.
The show hours will be Friday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. There will be Ag Updates daily at 8:30 a.m. during the show. Tim Price, Gin Show Manager has been working with the city to figure out how to bring the special event and keep its attendees safe from COVID.
“Our planning for a show in the middle of a pandemic mirrors the resiliency the ag industry has to go through each year whether its rain or a hurricane,” Price said.
Though still in the planning stage at press time, the show will feature a virtual aspect.
“For those who feel safer staying at home, we will use all of the latest technology to create a virtual site and they can still visit the show. What it does is increase the show from a two day show to a 365 day show because we’ll keep the site up,” Price said. “There will be a lot of videos with new equipment showing farmers in the cab of these tractors and aerial views. It’s a fantastic way to see technology. It lets us bring together more folks.”
The event won’t have as many social aspects such as the annual dance with live music but will do as much as they can within the city, county, state and federal regulations.
“We will have both an in-person show and a virtual platform that will be a continuing complement to our in-person show,” Price said. “We’ve had two years of renovations at what is now called Renasant Convention Center and was called Cook Convention Center. In the past we had about 400 exhibitors from 34 to 35 states and we’d have visitors from at least 10-15 different countries. It’s a Mid-South Show but its international.”
The show focuses on the major field crops including cotton, soybeans, corn, rice, grain sorghum and peanuts.
“Through the years it has been a forum where they all come together with a unique mixture of exhibitors and attendees. We normally have anywhere from 15,000 to 17,000 folks over a two-day time period,” Price said. “We have had as many as six generations come to the show and we have high-tech product development that has never seen before.”
The show has been known for drawing top notch industry education through seminars and last year included an update on hemp.
“We do focus on the robotics and new seed varieties and new advances in the plant protection world,” he said.
Normally, the week of the show, members of the industry are in town to meet with producers and such as well as those within the industry such as ag lenders, equipment sellers and other commercial decision makers.
More up-to-date information can be found by checking www.farmandginshow.com.
