The Farm Progress Show will be staying in Decatur, Illinois, for the next decade.
It was recently announced that Farm Progress and Brush College, LLC have come to an agreement to keep the Farm Progress Show’s biennial location at Richland Community College in Decatur. Matt Jungmann, National Events Manager with Farm Progress, is excited to have an agreement in place through 2031.
“We’ve inked an extension there in Decatur that carries us through an including the 2031 Farm Progress Show,” Jungmann said. “Every odd-numbered year through at least 2031 we’re going to be right there in Macon County putting the show on. We’re really excited about that.”
The Progress City site in Decatur first hosted the Farm Progress Show in 2005. Jungmann said that, over time, the show and the community have come together to form some great partnerships.
“The plan was to do 10 shows in 20 years, and, believe it or not, the next show in Decatur will be that 10th show over the course of 20 years,” Jungmann said. “If you’d told me back then that I’d still be doing this now I would’ve told you you’re crazy. We’re excited to be there. Obviously, it’s a great fit for the show and it’s a great location with great community support and great partnerships with everybody it takes to put it on. It’s all great partnerships. If you talk about host farmers, law enforcement, food service, and just everything it takes to put it on. It’s a lot of people around the table to put it together an extension like this, so we’re certainly thrilled to have gotten that accomplished, and we’re looking forward to being there.”
The extension ensures the return of an event that brings a tremendous economic boost to the central Illinois region. In fact, Jungmann indicates Farm Progress is currently trying to re-assess just how big that impact is.
“We’re actually in the process of doing an economic impact study of all of our events right now,” Jungmann said. “To be able to give you a number on that, back when we were courting communities to host the show, we were hauling in a 10 million dollar impact. Just to apply inflation to that, it’s now a 17 million dollar economic impact. That’s what the show was like back in 2004. I’m confident that the number is going to be bigger than that because the show is bigger than that now. There are more air-conditioned tents, the exhibits are more complex, and there are more vendors doing more jobs. I won’t be surprised to see that come back at $20 million plus in terms of the economic impact to the local economies.”
This year’s “Super Bowl of Ag” takes place August 30th – September 1st in Boone, Iowa. The show’s agreement in Boone runs through 2036.
