Agricultural shows will benefit from a $36 million federal government initiative to cover the costs of cancellation in 2020 due to COVID-19.

Almost all South Australian country shows have been cancelled this year, including those on the Fleurieu and the Royal Adelaide Show in September.

Yankalilla, Strathalbyn and Port Elliot shows would have been in the first two weeks of October, but the long lead-time for planning and organisation saw show societies have to pull the pin.

In this region only the Kangaroo Island show is set to go ahead; it is scheduled for October 31 at Kingscote’s Soldiers Memorial Park. 

The funding initiative consists of three components of assistance—for local show societies, for capital city Royal Agricultural Show societies, and for Agricultural Shows Australia (ASA).

ASA, the national peak body, will be able to seek funding for its National Rural Ambassador competition for 2020 and 2021.

The Supporting Agricultural Shows program will reimburse local societies up to $70,000 to deal with cash flow pressures from costs incurred in 2020.

The funding aims to enable show organisers to ride out this year and enable them to plan for next year. 

It will be provided under the $1 billion Relief and Recovery Fund, established to support regions, communities and industry sectors that have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus crisis.

Fleurieu show organisers are looking ahead to a bigger and better October 2021, but anyone needing their country show fix in the meantime will need to hop over to KI.

For more information on the Fund, visit the relief and recovery website.