Ag Expo Media Advisory
7/15/09
Contact: Laura Probyn
517-432-1555, ext. 175
July 21-23
Michigan State University
Corner of Farm Lane and Mount Hope Road
Hours: Tuesday and Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
General information: 1-800-366-7055
For media assistance prior to the show, contact Laura Probyn at 517-432-1555, ext. 175.
For media assistance during the show, contact Laura Probyn at 517-588-9830.
For pedestrian safety, TV vehicles should use Expo's west gate (next to the MSU Credit Union on Crescent Drive). All other media units should use the gate from Mt. Hope. Golf carts will be available at the headquarters tent each day for media use on a first-come, first-served basis.
The 30th annual Ag Expo will feature more than 235 commercial farm equipment and supply exhibits and dozens of educational exhibits from MSU departments and programs on the 35-acre main site.
New for 2009, visitors can test-drive large tractors in a ride-and-drive demonstration, see seed plots featuring a number of soybean varieties and listen to presenters discuss such topics as wind energy, pasture-based dairying, fencing for horses and growing crops for biofuel production.
The MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) “Family Futures” tent will host 30 exhibits and learning stations presented by departments and other units in the college, including children’s activities, cooking demonstrations, a presentation about gardening by the square foot (Wednesday at 2:30 p.m.) and reducing risk in farm transition planning.
MSU Archives will celebrate its birthday with free cake on Tuesday at 1 p.m. and Ag Expo will celebrate its 30th birthday with free cake at 2 p.m. on Wednesday. The MSU Dairy Store will provide free ice cream to anyone who donates to the CANR Alumni Association Scholarship Fund.
The Ag Expo VIP Breakfast begins at 7 a.m. on Tuesday (July 21). Speakers will include Lou Anna K. Simon, MSU president, and Jeffrey Armstrong, dean of the MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Legislators and agricultural leaders attend the breakfast, which will be held in the large red and white striped tent near the west gate.
Other Ag Expo highlights include an FFA tractor driving contest for young people (July 21 following the breakfast); a garden tractor pull (July 21 following the FFA tractor driving contest); an antique tractor pull (July 22 at noon); a demonstration of a robotic milking system; and other hands-on demonstrations that allow visitors to try out zero-turn mowers, skid steers and articulating wheel loaders.
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