Ag Expo: Your Location for Education
7/8/09
Contact: Laura Probyn
517-432-1555, ext. 175
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The 30th annual Michigan Ag Expo won’t only offer visitors the chance to see displays and booths from more than 235 exhibitors; they can also learn from presenters who will be on hand to offer a variety of educational presentations throughout the show, set for July 21-23 on the Michigan State University (MSU) campus.
When the show opens on July 21 at 9 a.m., visitors can take in some of the exhibits, and then catch a bus to “Profitable Environmental Options for Livestock Producers,” a workshop that will take place at the MSU Beef Cattle Research and Teaching Center.
Presentations at this event will look at practices for preventing manure runoff into surface waters, improving pasture and hay ground with manure, slurry-enriched seeding, low-stress cattle handling, grazing management for riparian areas, watering systems for grazing operations, managing beef winter feeding sites to protect the environment and save fertilizer dollars, controlling silage leachate and hay feeder design.
On the Expo grounds, visitors can see daily presentations about soybean and other crop research from MSU Extension staff members, hear a commodity marketing update, view a cattle handling demonstration, learn about wind turbines and other bioenergy topics, find out about fish stocking strategies and explore options for reducing risk in transitioning a farm from one generation to the next.
Other educational activities set for July 21 include a presentation about using kitchen incubators for developing food products and a discussion of square-foot gardening.
July 22 presentations include a youth entrepreneurship panel, an introduction to anaerobic digesters, a demonstration of cooking for families on the go and a milk marketing discussion.
On July 23, visitors can take part in a demonstration of installing and maintaining temporary fencing for horses, learn about keeping horses on a budget, hear about the MSU Enviroweather project and see a raw food cooking demonstration.
To see a complete list of Ag Expo activities, visit www.agexpo.msu.edu.
Ag Expo features commercial farm equipment from throughout the Midwest and several Canadian provinces on the 35-acre exhibition site, as well as educational exhibits from several MSU colleges and departments.
The event runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 21 and 22, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. July 23. Admission to the grounds and parking at Farm Lane and Mt. Hope Road are free. Because of the construction on Farm Lane, the Ag Expo parking area and grounds will be accessible only from Mt. Hope Road.
For more information about Ag Expo, call 800-366-7055 or visit www.agexpo.msu.edu.
Ag Expo is sponsored by the MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
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