• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

2005 Farm Progress Show Starts in Decatur, Ill.

Posted on: Friday, 2 September 2005, 15:00 CDT

Sep. 1--DECATUR -- Think of it as window shopping, but without the windows.

The 2005 Farm Progress Show, a massive outdoor farm show often called the Super Bowl of Agriculture, began its three-day run in Decatur on Tuesday.

After the gates opened at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, crowds strolled down gravel roads like Central Progress Avenue and mostly craned their necks to take in the displays of grain bins, trucks, sprayers and more.

The show's main draw is the steel hefty equipment like combines and tractors and the software displays, such as the latest automated programs for planting and harvesting.

But don't forget the food (pork products galore), refreshments (20-ounce Cokes for $2) and crafts. Been looking for the right dress or suit for your cement or plastic goose that graces the front stoop? They've got those here, too.

"We're not out to buy anything. We just want to see what's new," said Archie Duckworth, a farmer from Mill Shoals, a town east of Mount Vernon in southern Illinois.

Duckworth spent time watching new combines harvest corn in the demonstration fields north of the exhibitor site.

This was the first year the show was held in its new permanent biennial site. Every year the show will alternate with another site in Iowa. Adjacent to Richland Community College on Decatur's west side, the new site features miles of underground sewer, electric and waterlines, drainage tile and gravel roads.

The farm show could bring as many as 300,000 people during its three-day run from Tuesday through Thursday of this week.

It attracts not only farmers, but also chief executives of agricultural and financial companies, politicians, media and plenty of FFA groups from around the state.

"The show is very big in terms of size. It attracts a high caliber farmer," said Ben Allen, chief executive officer of New American Farm, an Austin, Texas-based company that contracts with farmers to grow corn.

New American Farm is one of about 450 exhibitors. Staffers were there not necessarily to immediately sign anyone up, but to spread the word about their company, which was launched in 2002.

"We're just trying to tell our story and what we do. And it's much easier to do that in these kind of crowds," Allen said.

-----

To see more of The News-Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.news-gazette.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

KO,

Source: The News-Gazette

More News in this Category