The 2021 Virtual CAAR Conference, hosted last week from February 9-11, included 23 valuable and informative keynote and concurrent speaker sessions and opportunities to engage and network with exhibitors and over 220 attendees.
Everyone who registered for #CAARcon has access to SwapCard for 30 days post-conference, so you can watch the speaker sessions, download the contacts you made during the event, and browse the exhibitor booths.
MISSED #CAARcon? REGISTER TODAY!
Didn’t Attend the 2021 Virtual CAAR Conference? No worries, you can still register for #CAARcon until March 5 and access our virtual event hosted on SwapCard, giving you the opportunity to watch all 23 speaker sessions and earn up to 9.5 CCA credits.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THE 2021 VIRTUAL CAAR CONFERENCE
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CAAR PRO-AG INVESTMENTS ONLINE AUCTIONThank you to everyone who participated and supported the CAAR Pro-Ag Investments Online Auction by either bidding or donating products. The online auction raised over $65,000 that directly supports CAAR’s operations and activities, enabling CAAR to keep member fees low and support other causes such as CAAR’s advocacy efforts, training course upgrades, delivery of expanded and new programming and scholarships to post-secondary ag students. |
#CAARcon VIRTUAL SPEAKER SESSIONS
DAY ONE RECAP
Day One of #CAARcon (Feb. 9) launched with Neil Ellis, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food providing opening remarks and reinforcing what we already know, Canada is ‘Agriculture Strong’ and agriculture will lead the Canadian economic recovery.
David Parker from FLM Harvest followed Neil and sharing his thoughts on the impact of establishing a clear vision of the future by ag retails, dealing with uncertainty disruptions, remaining relevant to customers and having a disruption adaption plan to navigate the future in the ever-changing agriculture industry.
Tuesday afternoon featured two tracks of concurrent speaker sessions that included speakers from CASA, Backswath Management, Nutrien, Cereals Canada, Fertilizer Canada, and Koch Industries, focusing on safety awareness and regulations affecting ag retailers in Canada.
Jeff Harrison from Meyers Norris Penny presented Tuesday afternoon, discussing the federal carbon tax program, what it is intended to accomplish, how it functions, and some of the challenges that are being faced for Canadian Ag Retailers.
DAY TWO RECAP
Day Two of #CAARcon (Feb. 10) started with Sam Taylor from Rabobank, who reviewed the dynamics of global ag trade, what’s driving global swings in ag commodity demand, the role of government regulations dictating farm production and what does the future have in store.
Marty Seymour and Sarah Dobson from Farm Credit Canada followed Sam and delved into the impact of evolving processor and consumer preferences to Canadian ag production, providing great insight and approach to selling the value of precision of technology and data collection.
Wednesday afternoon included two tracks of concurrent speaker sessions that featured presenters from Bourgault Industries, Backswath Management, Farms.com and Telus Agriculture, focusing on a variety of topics like the future and value of ag technology, the role of the agronomist when purchasing equipment and the value of benchmarking your business.
The CAAR Awards were hosted virtually on Wednesday afternoon, highlighting the achievements and dedication of CAAR members who serve their community and the ag retail industry.
Click here to learn about the CAAR Award Recipients
DAY THREE RECAP
The final day of #CAARcon (Feb. 11) kicked off with Scott Downey from Purdue University, who provided insights of managing the customer journey, how it continues to evolve, the importance of predictive listening and ultimately the more you understand your customer, the more relevant you become.
Justin Funk from Agri Studies followed Scott with the dynamics of the customer journey when dealing with multi-generational farms and how the level of sophistication of the next generation decision-maker is very diverse.
Thursday afternoon’s tracks of concurrent speaker sessions featured presenters from Farms.com, Dale Carnegie and AgCareers.com, who continued focusing on the customer journey through communications, engagement, relationships, social media and how they all affect current and future employees and customers.
Cami Ryan from Bayer CropScience concluded the 2021 Virtual CAAR Conference with her insights and experiences of dealing with misinformation and disinformation impacting agriculture production globally and at home and how the public, including the ag industry, respond to the digital information overload.
CCA CREDITS
The virtual conference offered a total of 9.5 CCA credits, claim your credits by scanning the QR code on the downloadable PDFs available in the virtual CAAR Booth in SwapCard and automatically credit your profile. You can also email lady@caar.org with your name and CCA/CPAg/CPSS or CPSC Number for submission.
Please note, there are 2 two QR codes per day, one for keynote speaker sessions and one for concurrent speaker sessions.
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
Without the generous support from all of our sponsors, we would not be able to host the annual CAAR Conference.
PLATINUM SPONSORS
BASF Canada, Bayer CropScience, IRM/Sherritt and Nutrien
GOLD SPONSORS
Farm Credit Canda, Meridian Manufacturing
SILVER SPONSORS
Simplot, UPL AgroSolutions Canada
BRONZE SPONSORS
AgCareers.com, Agrico Canada, AGTIV, Alpine Solutions, Backswath Management, Border Chemical Company, BrettYoung, CASA, Cereals Canada, CF Industries, CleanFARMS, Dale Carnegie, DLF Pickseed Canada, Fertilizer Canada, Hi Tech Installations, Koch Fertilizer, Meyers Norris Penny, North Star Systems, NuFarm Agriculture, Rabobank, Pattison Liquid Systems, SeCan Association, TELUS Agriculture, TerraLink, Tronia Systems
SAVE THE DATE
Mark your calendars and make plans to join us next year at the 2022 CAAR Conference, hosted from Feb. 8-10, 2022.
Keep your eye on The CAAR Communicator, The CAAR Network and caar.org for event details as they are released as well as request for feedback from members on the future of hosting the conference in-person, virtual or hybrid.
