Northwest Ag Showcase Updates Its Image

This year’s agriculture showcase has more polish and a broader scope, bringing together 220 exhibitors and as many as 350 buyers from more than 20 countries, organizers said.

“To attract buyers and traders from Saudi Arabia, Japan and Peru, we had to take a look inside and create the right atmosphere and trade floor to attract these buyers to Yakima,” said showcase administrator Glenn Phipps. “We had to recreate our image.”

Changing the image meant changing the name, too. Started in 1992 as the Central Washington Agriculture Showcase, it now calls itself the Pacific Northwest Agriculture Showcase. The two-day trade show opens today at the Yakima SunDome.

“As it continues to grow in scope, it’s important not to limit it to the boundaries of Washington state,” said Leslie Flath Ganz, vice president of TRADEC, the Seattle company hired to run the trade show.

“The more exhibitors we can attract, the more buyers we’ll attract and the more successful we’ll be,” she said.

The trade show will feature an agriculture policy roundtable discussion today led by Eugene Moos, U.S. undersecretary of agriculture.

Organizers also are trying to establish the Ag Showcase as THE agriculture trade show in Washington, and fend off efforts to move the show elsewhere.

Spokane, the Tri-Cities and Seattle all have expressed interest in hosting the trade show, Ganz said.