Agworld was part of another successful edition of Husker Harvest Days in Grand Island, NE last week. Husker Harvest Days - the world’s largest working farm show - is one of the most popular agricultural events in the US and I enjoyed attending as part of the Agworld team. The show brings a lot of new technology to Central Nebraska every year and this year was no exception. Where the traditional ‘big shiny machinery’ is often the drawcard of farm shows, this year a lot of farmers and other visitors told me that they were at the show to find out more about digital technology.

Husker Harvest Days is famous for being a ‘working’ farm show, meaning that visitors can see machinery at work in the field and get a feel for the capabilities on display. From what I saw last week, the same goes for digital technology at Husker Harvest Days; we had lots of interest from visitors wanting to see a live demo of Agworld so they can better understand the platform’s capabilities and how it benefits their businesses. Although Agworld is a Software as a Service (SaaS) product that works completely digitally, we know that our clients value in-person meetings very much and we therefore take every opportunity to meet with new and existing clients and other stakeholders. This is why you see Agworld sponsoring many local grower-led initiatives and exhibiting at shows such as Husker Harvest Days.

Other trends that I noticed at Husker Harvest Days were an increase in focus on integrations between in-field machinery and digital platforms such as farm management software, as well as many questions about integrating in-field data with financial data and letting this deliver information to financial advisors, accountants and bankers. We spoke to many growers, service providers, machinery dealerships, as well as ag-finance people, all of whom were wondering how the data they need for their jobs can be extracted from, or integrate with, other ag data.

Where some agricultural shows are experiencing difficult times due to falling visitor numbers and fewer exhibitors, I feel that shows like Husker Harvest Days are still as relevant now as they ever were. With so many new digital products being created and released, growers and their stakeholders are feeling bombarded every day by the advertisement of these new products. Agricultural shows provide a great opportunity for companies like Agworld to create relationships and demonstrate new digital tools in a traditional setting. If you missed our booth at Husker Harvest Days but would like to get in touch, please drop me a line at Judah.cofer@agworld.com – I would love to catch up with you.