Purdue News
Purdue News
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August 28, 1998
Agriculture careers highlighted at Farm Progress ShowWEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Professors and counselors from Purdue University will be emphasizing the "progress" portion of the 1998 Farm Progress Show to reach potential college students.One of the largest farm shows in the country with 600 vendors, the Farm Progress Show is an 80-acre tent city that suddenly appears each year in the middle of Midwest farm fields. An estimated 300,000 to 350,000 visitors will travel to Tipton County for the three-day event Sept. 29-Oct. 1 near Windfall, Ind. Gates will open at 7:30 a.m. each day, and the show will close promptly at 5 p.m. Admission is $5 per person, with persons under the age of 18 admitted free. The show is organized by Farm Progress Cos. and rotates between Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. The Purdue presence will include an animal sciences tent, a mock house, agricultural production and research exhibits, and for the first time, a career tent for students considering college. "Clearly anyone attending the Farm Progress Show already has an interest in agriculture, so we've created a place where young people can learn more about all the careers available," explains Dana Neary, events coordinator for the Cooperative Extension Service at Purdue. "Even if they've grown up around the industry, they may not be aware of all the career options available in the field." Academic advisers from the schools of Agriculture, Consumer and Family Sciences, Veterinary Medicine and university admissions will be available to talk about careers in food and fiber industries as well as majors and fields of study at Purdue. Purdue's presence at the Farm Progress Show is a prime example of how encompassing agriculture has become. Demontsrations and exhibits will focus on production agriculture, safe food, home life, natural resources and rural living. Among the exhibits will be the Breaking New Ground Resource Center, which will use a scale model farm to demonstrate barriers and solutions for farmers with disabilities. A high-tech precision farming demonstration will show how global positioning, computers and tractors come together to make farming more profitable and environmentally friendly. Consumer and Family Sciences specialists will have a 24- by 20-foot house with exhibits on retirement financing, selecting the right day care, home security and nutrition. Farm animals and an aquaculture fish tank will be shown at the Purdue Animal Sciences tent. The Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory and the School of Veterinary Medicine also will have displays.
New this year is a seminar and tour of a nearby woodlot where Purdue forestry specialists
will show landowners how to get the most out of a forest, both for timber and wildlife.
The tour will take place on a privately owned woodlot adjoining the show site. Buses will take participants from the Purdue tents to the tour.
Source: Dana Neary, (765) 494-9113, e-mail, dn@aes.purdue.edu Writer: Chris Sigurdson, (765) 494-8415; e-mail, sig@ecn.purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu
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