Young National Judges competition the latest Covid cancellation

The National Young Judges competition is the latest event to be cancelled due to Covid-19 lockdowns, which is disrupting the farming events calendar.

The national finals for young judges, young paraders and rural ambassadors have been postponed, after they were set to be held at The Ekka next month.

Agricultural Shows of Australia announced the decision today that the national finals for the events couldn’t be held as part of the Royal Queensland Show due to the “increasing” uncertainty around the ability of interstate competitors and officials to attend.

It means the 63 state winners who were eligible as national competitors in the young judges competitions for poultry, alpacas, Merino sheep, Merino fleece, meat sheep breeds, dairy and beef cattle, paraders in dairy and beef cattle competitions and rural ambassadors won’t be competing next month.

Agricultural Shows of Australia chairman Rob Wilson said they had every intention of staging “these important competitions in the future” and the joint committees will reconvene on August 6 to consider the options.

The Ekka is still set to go ahead from August 7 to 15, however with the announcement today the Queensland to NSW border will be closed from 1am Friday, it may mean many attendees won’t be able to make it.

It comes after the Australian Sheep and Wool Show, Mallee Field Days and United Dairyfarmers of Victoria annual meeting and conference were among major agriculture events cancelled as a result of Victoria’s snap Covid-19 lockdown.

Breeders were forced to abandon the Australian Sheep and Wool Show, which was due to start last week.

“Following the state government announcement, the Australian Sheep and Wool Show is cancelled for 2021,” organisers said in a statement last evening.

“We are so very sorry about this and understand how much you have invested in your site and your presence at this event.

“If you are a site holder we have been advised that you must clear your site this evening (15/7) and be home by 11.59pm, otherwise you cannot return until next Wednesday to clear your site.

“We are sorry that we have been unable to find out further information at this stage.

“If you are returning to other states, please check your own state regulations about returning and what is required from a Covid-testing perspective.”

The show, which typically attracts about 30,000 people, did not go ahead last year either due to the pandemic.

The Mallee Machinery Field Days, which organisers estimate would have attracted 8000 people, has also been cancelled, also making it the second year in a row the rural event at Speed has not gone ahead.

Field days secretary Andrew McLean said the committee made the decision last night, to give exhibitors enough notice to cancel transportation of machinery without incurring too many costs.

“We didn’t want to leave it until the last week (before the event),” he said.

Mallee Machinery Field Days was scheduled to take place August 4-5, and had 180 confirmed exhibitors who would all be offered refunds, Mr McLean said.

He said community groups would also be hit financially by the cancellation.

“It will be the second year in a row that they won’t have the opportunity to fundraise at our event,” he said, adding that an economic review of the event about 10 years ago found that the field days injected more than $750,000 into the regional community.

He said the effect would be more significant for smaller machinery businesses.

“It was noticeable that the larger companies seemed to be more at ease than the smaller exhibitors. Our numbers of smaller exhibitors were reduced. They just can’t continue to take the cost.”

The safety of visitors and exhibitors was also a main factor driving the decision to cancel.

“Hopefully in a year’s time our community will be vaccinated,” he said. “The safety of the community is paramount.”

The United Dairyfarmers of Victoria has also cancelled its annual meeting and conference, which was to be held on July 23, citing “Victorian COVID restrictions”.

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