The Farm Progress Show will return as scheduled to Illinois in 2021, despite the company’s shift to a virtual show in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re sticking with the schedule we’ve been on since 2005, where odd-numbered years are held in Decatur, Ill., and even-numbered years are in Boone, Iowa,” says Matt Jungmann, national events director for Farm Progress.

And while it may sound easy to shift the schedule and hold a live show in Iowa next year, nothing is that simple.

“It sounds simple because the facilities are sitting there,” Jungmann says. “But the facilities aren’t the problem; it’s all the contracts written around them.”

He points to contracts such as hotels, which are already booked in Decatur for 2021, and some in Boone for 2022. International groups make plans years in advance. Jungmann knows of one group already planning for Boone in 2024.

In fact, Farm Progress Shows are contracted for years — and decades — in advance. Jungmann says they signed a 20-year contract with Decatur in 2005, which will expire in 2025. They signed a contract with Boone in 2008, and in 2016, they added another 20 years, which means the Boone site is contracted through 2036.

Jungmann says the company has every intention of renewing the Decatur contract. “We’re working hard on a renewal in Decatur,” he adds. “We’re hopeful we can get all the parties around the table to get the extension done.”

Virtual experience

Meanwhile, much of the show goes on in 2020, through the Farm Progress Virtual Experience. There are still 400 acres of corn to harvest in Boone, and companies are bringing more than 100 pieces of equipment to run through field demonstrations in Boone and at the Husker Harvest Days show site in Grand Island, Neb. Farm Progress’ Max Armstrong and his crew are capturing video footage of all those machines running through real-world conditions, and a panel of Midwestern farmers will be on hand to evaluate the equipment.

“We’ll be mounting GoPro cameras on machines in locations that really give you a look at how that machine will perform,” Jungmann adds. “If a tillage company wants to show how their product mixes the soil, we’re going to mount a camera to show it at work.”

You can register for the Farm Progress Virtual Experience at FarmProgressShow.com, and tune in Sept. 15-17.