Spokane Ag Show brings pros together

SPOKANE — The Spokane Ag Show and Expo started its three-day spree Tuesday morning with agriculture and business experts from all around the world coming together to discuss the industry and get ready for the start of the growing season. 

“We had a very busy morning, which was great, good conversations and good opportunities to be here,” said Tim Cobb, a Broker with the Farmland Company. 

Tuesday started off with the opening ceremonies, where Curtis Hennings received the Excellence in Agriculture Award. After the ceremony, the floors opened for attendees to explore the many booths and products on display.  

Throughout the showroom, there was farming equipment from John Deere, Ag Trucks and Equipment and Salford, equipment parts, seed and fertilizing companies and farming insurance and finance groups. Each of these companies discussed the latest updates to the industry and how their business is helping the industry move forward. 

Cobb said while running his own booth, he met up with people from other businesses with their own products on display and allowed them to do business together while at the show. 

“More than anything, this place is an opportunity for me to connect with old friends, colleagues, industry members, people I’ve never met before,” he said. “It really becomes a great opportunity and has been a great opportunity as always. 

During the day’s events, individual seminars were held to discuss the different challenges the industry is facing currently and how farmers can navigate through these challenges. The first of these sessions began at noon with one of the sessions by David Funk, President and Co-Founder of Zero Emissions Northwest, who discussed the recently formed Washington Green Bank and how that can support agriculture. 

Funk said that the US has fallen behind in terms of energy production over the years, with about 2/3 of the energy produced going to waste, and can benefit from using solar panels to gather and store energy for year-round use. The installation of the solar panels would be made possible with the help of the new WA Green Bank, which directly connects capital to clean energy projects for the benefit of the farmers. 

“The more that we can remain competitive on our energy, the more competitive Washington agriculture will be in all aspects,” he said. “Our goal is to use less; we don’t need to be wasteful.” 

The follow-up sessions at 1:30 p.m. included a presentation on Land Value trends in both Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho by Whitney Husband and Paul Vuletich from AgWest. They said farmland is becoming more valuable nationwide as they have seen a steady increase in price per acre from 2023 to 2025.  

The Columbia Basin specifically saw an increase in sales for areas of land that saw lower rainfall in the past few years. Husband said the low-quality properties in the basin have been slow to sell in recent years, but are also being listed now which is something that doesn’t typically occur in the area. 

“Irrigation sources are the are the primary market right now, and there’s higher dollar rents over there from the potato and onion rents,” she said. “Good quality irrigation sells at a definite premium and the high dollar crops are the driver of that.” 

The final sessions of the day started at 3 with Larissa Zeiler, C.P.A for Leffel, Otis & Warwick, P.S., Certified Public Accountants, who discussed the ways farmers can use tax and financial strategies to overcome lean years in agriculture.  

Recently, farmers have faced problems such as high input costs, low commodity and high interest rates, but recent updates to how farmers can claim expenses can allow for financial breaks when times are tough, said Zeiler. These updates have increased crop insurance premium subsidy rates from 65% to 80%, extended Beginning Farmer Support and gave the farmers more options to accelerate their income. 

She said it is important that farmers in these times stay informed of what is going on in the industry, keep an eye on their mental health and plan for the future. 

“I know sometimes it’s hard to even put one foot in front of the other right now, but think long term,” said Zeiler. “It’s a cycle and it's going to come back around and there will be good years again.” 

For more information on the happenings at the Spokane Ag Show and Expo, pick up a copy of our upcoming February edition of the Basin Business Journal. 

    Miina De Lara from Sunvek, left, speaks with a show attendee at her booth during the Spokane Ag Show. De Lara said she had quite a bit of traffic at her booth and having conversations with individuals in person is important for building up a local business like Sunvek.
  

    Tim Cobb, a Broker for the Farmland Company stands at his booth toward the end of Tuesday’s events. Cobb said he enjoys being meeting with both new and familiar faces from the industry at the Ag show each year.