Olds College of Agriculture and Technology has a contingent in Germany right now attending the world’s leading trade fair for ag machinery.
Dustin Farr, Instructor in the Werklund School of Ag Technology, is the only faculty member along with 34 students, and three members of their administration team from Olds College who are in Hanover at Agritechnica. He says “well the interesting thing is they are across all different programs. We have some students that are in, you know, some of the Ag Mech programs, the Land and Water, Ag Management, our Precision Ag programs all the way to our Bachelor of Digital Agriculture program.”
Farr notes this trip is about connecting students to industry and innovation, that hopefully will spark their interest in driving a real world impact where they can make a difference out in their industry that they are going into. He says “this is where the leaders of tomorrow kind of showcase what they are working on and new and innovative products, that kind of thing. So we wanted to put our students out there and have them have that experiential learning. You know, it is one thing to teach them something in a classroom. It is another thing for them to be standing in one of these massive trade halls and talking to the engineers, designers, and companies that are coming up with these innovative products.”
The 2025 edition of Agritechnica started on Sunday, November 9th in Germany and it continues until this Saturday, November 15th. Farr notes that the Agri-Trade Equipment Expo in Red Deer is a fantastic trade show and it is pretty big, but Agritechnica is about ten times the size of it. He says “it is amazing just how much more there is out there when you look at agriculture on a global scale and you are looking at all the different manufacturers, all the different types of research that are happening and just that next level of innovation that is coming out of those European countries and countries across the world.”
Farr explains what else they have planned during the trip. He says “we have a farm tour that we are going to check out of a, kind of a I guess a leading farm over there where they are using different things like bio gas collection. They have got a mixed farming operation, so there is livestock to cropping, all that kind of stuff. We are also going to visit the Klaus factory which is, of course, an equipment manufacturer that has become a bit more popular here in western Canada over the last number of years. So we are going to visit their factory along with some other historical pieces, the Volkswagen factory and some other stops along the way.”
Listen to 96.5 The Ranch’s conversation with Dustin Farr.
