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The Royal Agricultural Society of NSW (RAS) and the Sydney Royal Easter Show have taken out numerous categories at the 128^th annual International Association Fair and Exposition (IAFE) convention held in San Antonio, Texas.

RAS representatives, Shane McGrath (Senior Manager Operations and Product Development) and Lynelle Smith (Head of Entertainment) accepted the awards for categories including education, unique partnerships and two trophies for Agricultural Division and Judges Choice award winner.  

The IAFE recognises U.S and International State Fairs and Agricultural Shows for their contribution to education in the agriculture sector.

Claiming 12 awards overall at the IAFE Expo, seven of which were first place, the RAS also took home the Sweepstakes Award for winning the most points in its division, while the Sydney Royal Easter Show won the Judges Choice Award and Agricultural Division trophies for its innovative technological exhibit, ‘Farm of The Future’.

In 2018, the Royal Agricultural Society of NSW dedicated an entire pavilion to the future of farming.

The ‘Farm of the Future’ had everything from drone demonstrations to interactive soil testing and uncovered numerous ‘bots‘- computer-assisted robots designed to do many of the tasks farmers have done manually.

It truly was a snapshot of the future of farming.

David Lamb, McClymont Distinguished Professor, Precision Agriculture Research Group at the University of New England, Armidale travelled to Sydney with a group of students and volunteers in order to showcase some of the newest advances in farming technology.

One of the most successful innovations on display was one that weighs and sorts livestock. “We’ve got what we call an auto draft walk over weigh system, so that means that a single person and say, a dog, can handle their entire sheep yard operation”, Professor Lamb said.

Judged on Theme, Promotion of Agriculture, Goals and Achievements, Fairgoer Reaction, Originality and Overall Achievement, the RAS is honoured to be recognised for its programs and agricultural event, the Sydney Royal Easter Show, Australia’s largest annual ticketed event.  

General Manager, Agriculture and Sydney Royal Easter Show, Murray Wilton says the recognition on an international scale is tremendous.

“The RAS is thrilled to be awarded and recognised for our contribution to Agriculture,” said Wilton.

“Our team works tirelessly to promote the importance of agriculture to the everyday lives of Australians, always working to keep the messages contemporary.

“We have recently implemented some great innovative programs such as ‘Farm of The Future’ and ‘AgVision’ which have both been recognised as front-runners in agricultural education, crucially for our young Showgoers, many of whom have never stepped foot on a farm,” Wilton added.

AgVision is an education program which aims to support agriculture and agribusiness through expos and workshops and was awarded first place for a non-fair related event or program which promotes agriculture.

Innovative agricultural technology exhibit, Farm of the Future was a partnership with the University of New England, giving Sydney Royal Easter Show guests a glimpse into the future of agriculture.

The activation was awarded first place for “best newly established program”, edging out 467 entries to be awarded the prestigious “Judges Choice” and “Agricultural Division” trophies.

The Royal Agricultural Society (IAFE Awards) honour roll for 2018:

• CATEGORY 1: Agricultural exhibitor events, awards, participation incentives or retention programs
  First Place - Medal and Awards Artwork and style guides 
• CATEGORY 2: Technique/procedure/policy developed by Fair Management to correct an issue or challenge related to an agricultural program
  First Place - New changeover for Cattle
• CATEGORY 3: Newly established or evolving program/exhibit at your fair which promotes agriculture to the fair-going public
  First Place - Farm of the Future
• CATEGORY 5: Non-fair related agriculture event/program which is produced or co-produced by your fair
  First Place – AgVision
• CATEGORY 6: Unique partnership for an exhibit/promotion/special event/competition showcased during the Fair
  First Place – “Showstopper” Beer
• CATEGORY 7: Innovative way(s) technology is used to benefit agriculture program(s) at your Fair
  Third Place - Barcode scanning in A&C and WDFF
• CATEGORY 8: Agriculture Communications
  Entrant will describe how the fair is using media (print or electronic) to promote agriculture program(s) to exhibitors, the media plan (and its efficiencies or benefits), how it fit with the fair’s overall communication plan, resources utilized and how success was measured.
  Second Place – Marketing
• CATEGORY 9: Agriculture programs video
  Third Place – President’s Medals
• CATEGORY 10 (A through E): Agriculture individual photo
  First Place – Rodeo, “Bull charging the barrel”
• CATEGORY 11: Agriculture program area
  First Place - New Signage program and roll-out
• Sweepstakes Award: Division Winner
• Judges Choice Award and Agricultural Division Winner
  Farm of the Future

Image top: Shane McGrath (Senior Manager Operations and Product Development) and Lynelle Smith (Head of Entertainment) at IAFE Awards in San Antonio, Texas.

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