2009 Ag Progress Days

The 2009 version of Ag Progress Days draws to a close today. For those of you unable to make the trip to Rock Springs this year I thought I would post a few pictures to give you an idea of what you missed and hopefully inspire a trip for next year. The picture above was made on Tuesday morning, the first day of the show. Ag Progress Days always runs for three days -- Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. See a Penn State Live slide show of the event HERE.

The focus of exhibits in the College Building this year was water. One of the popular stops was the Green Roof exhibit demonstrating the advantages of these types of systems for stormwater control and energy savings. Rob Berghage, associate professor of horticulture and greenroof researcher was on hand to answer questions.

A six-hitch team of horses were at the event to give people an idea of how things used to be done before the advent of mechanically powered transport. Draft horses inspire a measure of awe and their controlled power was demonstrated in the riding ring. The woman in the picture above along with her colleagues showed their experience getting the horses ready. And the training of the horses was evident too.

There is always plenty of production equipment on display. The longer I attend the event the more exotic the equipment seems to become. I used to know what most everything was. Now there are devices that I can't even guess their purpose. Progress.

Dean McPheron and Penn State President Graham Spanier attended the luncheon for Government and Industry Day. It was a full house in the Special Events Building.

Entomology was the highlight this year in the youth building and there were plenty of insects -- live and mounted-- for kids to look at. I watched these two young people methodically move through the exhibit and learn as much as they could. Here they were looking at butterflies. On the other side of the exhibit were Tarantula's, scorpions and other live insects.

Farm safety demonstrations occur every day including tractor rollover problems. I see these test machines in the Ag Engineering Building and they take quite a beating. Special accommodations are made to keep the engines running well despite being inverted over and over again.

Kids had the chance to see baby chicks up close in the Youth Building. The 4H Embryology project is just one of the ways young people learn about animals. There was a nonstop flow of kids at this exhibit.

At the equine demonstration area visitors had the chance to watch riders in a range of events. This young woman was engaged in a jumping demonstration. I caught her as she was swinging her horse around for another approach at the jump.

Main Street crowded with people. This was made towards the end of the day on Wednesday. Along this stretch of the event are the food vendors. Lots of good stuff to eat.

Make plans to attend next year: August 17-19, 2010.