Commentary: Bringing Agriculture into Focus at the State Fair By Janet Adkison, Director of Public Affairs for Missouri Farm Bureau JEFFERSON CITY – While I appreciate sunny summer days more than the cold winter days, I love the fact that we live in a region with four seasons. By late winter, I’m ready to hang up the coat, enjoy the warmer weather, and plant flowers. Now, here we are in late summer, and it’s the opposite. I love my colorful flowers, but I’m ready to roll up the hose and call the gardening ‘quits’ until next year. To say it’s been a hot and humid summer might be an understatement. I can’t remember a time when timely rains around August provided green grass and colorful flowerbeds. While I’m ready to hang up my gardening duties till next year, I’m not ready to let summer go. After all, it’s state fair time! The concerts, livestock shows, creative displays, carnival rides, and reunions with friends are a great tradition for the Show Me State. The fair highlights the best of our state’s agriculture industry, and I don’t even mean the blue-ribbon display of livestock or produce. I mean the heart of the industry that serves us all. Kids have worked long hours preparing their projects, hoping they can leave the fair with top honors and premiums. Families and neighbors have poured hours into these opportunities. They’ve helped kids prepare, hauled them and their projects to county fairs and other local exhibitor events all summer. Early mornings and late evenings, watering, feeding, washing, and tending to their animals and other projects. For the kids exhibiting livestock, by the time the state fair rolls around, hopefully, the animals behave, and the kids are comfortable in the show ring. It’s fun. That’s the simple and long story of the state fair. It’s a great place to browse trade booths and new equipment, reconnect with old friends, and experience the many facets of the state’s agriculture industry. This year, Missouri Farm Bureau has cranked out a couple of features we hope everyone enjoys. First and foremost, we’re bringing rural Missouri into focus, noting many of the challenges we face are very similar and impactful to those who live in more populated areas. Rural main streets and urban areas may be miles apart, but our needs and challenges are intertwined. Also on display is Missouri’s diversified slate of agricultural commodities. Nationwide, the state ranks in the top 10 for the production of soybeans, corn, cotton, rice, hay, cattle, hogs, and turkeys. We’re number two in the nation for the number of farms. From agritourism to beef production, and peanuts to produce, our farmers and ranchers raise a variety of goods you can find in the home and around the world. For those attending the state fair, stop by the Missouri Farm Bureau building first. It’s located on Missouri State Fair Blvd., just north and across the street from the grandstand. As always, pick up your 25-cent cup of ice-cold milk, and this year, grab the kids a pair of 3D glasses. A portion of our Farm Bureau display is in 3D. We’ve also tucked away posters with 3D features in several locations across the fairgrounds. A QR code located on display with the 3D glasses will provide a map of the state fair that shows you the general area of those posters. We hope this is a fun addition to the fair that families can enjoy as they stroll the grounds. |
