Several Victorian agricultural shows cancel due to Covid-19 uncertainty

Regional Victoria may be out of lockdown but many agricultural shows won’t go ahead or will operate differently this spring. Latest details here.

Many of regional Victoria’s agricultural shows are in doubt for this spring. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

Agricultural shows are waiting for a helping hand from government as the spring calendar is wiped clean due to coronavirus uncertainty.

Maffra, Colac, Cobram, Nhill, Warracknabeal, Sunbury and Berrigan shows have already been cancelled for 2021 and more are set to follow.

It comes as some of the nation’s biggest agricultural events, including the Royal Melbourne, Brisbane Ekka and Royal Adelaide shows pulled the pin in the past month.

Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said he was looking at a 2021 round of funding following on from a Canberra cash package last year.

“The Federal Government is aware of the cancellation of shows and made a $34 million investment to support them last year,” Mr Littleproud said.

“We will work through the extension of this program in the near future but would also hope state governments would make a contribution as well.”

Like Mr Littleproud, Victorian Agriculture Minister Mary-Anne Thomas announced a show assistance package prior to the current coronavirus chaos but is yet to announce new funding. “From the very young to the very old, Victorians love their local show and it’s disappointing that the pandemic will again play havoc with these local institutions,” she said.

“We’ll continue to support Agricultural and Pastoral Societies with our annual grants program and I encourage the Commonwealth Government to step up and extend their support this year.”

Victorian Agricultural Shows chief executive Rod Bowles said a number of agricultural societies may choose to hold scaled back events to comply with coronavirus density limits.

He said smaller-scale shows broken into different categories spread the risk in case of a snap lockdown.

“It’s been a tough time to plan any event and there’s still a lot of uncertainty heading into spring,” Mr Bowles said.

“A number of committees have decided that there’s not enough time to plan ahead and have made a decision to cancel now. Some are deciding this weekend or next week how they want to proceed. Some committees will have scaled-back shows, horse events one weekend and other competitions on another. It spreads the risk that if another lockdown occurs, at least one half of the show can go ahead.”

Last month, organisers of the Australian Sheep and Wool Show received only hours notice that its Bendigo event could not go ahead due to a snap statewide lockdown.

“Bendigo last month and the Brisbane Ekka recently show that the rug can be pulled from under your feet with only a few hours’ notice,” Mr Bowles said.

“That’s just the nature of things but it does make it very difficult to not only plan but have the confidence to plan.”

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