UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The 2022 edition of Penn State’s Ag Progress Days promises to give attendees three days of informative demonstrations, hands-on activities and engaging education for all ages. The expo begins Aug. 9 and continues through Aug. 11 at the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center at Rock Springs in Ferguson Township, Centre County.

Ag Progress Days is one of the largest agricultural expos in the East, featuring nearly 500 commercial and educational exhibits, crop displays, machinery demonstrations, guided research tours, family and youth activities, horse exhibitions, workshops, and the Pasto Agricultural Museum. There also are plenty of food vendors, offering hot sandwiches, lemonade, ice cream and fried fare, among other treats.

The event typically attracts as many as 45,000 visitors from across Pennsylvania and beyond to get a glimpse into the science and business of agriculture. To make the most of Ag Progress Days, it is helpful to know some of the available major demonstrations and activities.

College of Agricultural Sciences Exhibits Building

Climate-smart agriculture, animal health issues such as avian influenza, vector-borne diseases and the spread of the spotted lanternfly will be the focus of displays and presentations at the College of Agricultural Sciences Exhibits Building and Theater.

Native to Asia and found for the first time in the U.S. in Berks County in 2014, the invasive spotted lanternfly has spread to 45 counties across Pennsylvania — a region that the state Department of Agriculture has designated as a quarantine zone. Ag Progress Days visitors can speak with Penn State spotted lanternfly experts, learn how to identify the various life stages of the insect, and find out how they can help contain and manage lanternfly infestations.

Exhibits and theater presentations will also cover avian influenza, vector-borne diseases such as Lyme disease spread by ticks, workforce development in agriculture, protecting animal health, and climate impact on pollinators, among other topics.

In addition, representatives from the College of Agricultural Sciences’ Office of Undergraduate Education will be on hand to provide prospective students and their families with information about the college’s programs in animal, biomedical, environmental, plant and social sciences.

With nearly 500 commercial and educational exhibits and various field demonstrations and workshops, producers can walk away with newfound knowledge and ideas to enhance their operations. Exhibitors cover every product category, including field machinery, milking systems, animal genetics, storage structures, seed, feed, tools, trailers, sprayers, mixers, livestock housing, utility vehicles, fertilizers, fencing, financial products, insurance and more.

Field demonstrations are well attended and allow potential buyers to see and compare equipment in action, such as hay mowers, rakes and tedders, hay balers, and bale handlers. New demonstrations this year include small-grain combines and large square balers.

Parents and children can learn about various 4-H programs with hands-on activities and demonstrations in the 4-H Youth Building. Activities will include exploring plant diseases under a microscope, meeting rabbits and testing dairy knowledge.

Several other activities aimed at children and their families can be found throughout the Ag Progress Days grounds. A sunflower maze offers a fun way to learn facts about Pennsylvania agriculture. The hands-on exhibits at the Pasto Agricultural Museum will give visitors a glimpse into farm and rural life of days gone by, and a butterfly tent will feature informational displays and live butterflies.

This year’s arena demonstrations cover various topics for every interest and horsemanship level. For the first time since 2019, a six-horse hitch will return to the Equine Experience. Spring Mount Percherons, owned and shown by David and Linda Hershey, of Warriors Mark, will be on site all three days.

Visitors can learn more about horse logging and restorative forestry by attending one of the demonstrations by Bear Hill Horse Logging. Bear Hill specializes in low-impact timber management, selective harvests and wetlands logging.

Penn State equine science faculty and staff will join members of the Pennsylvania Equine Council in the Equine Exhibits Building throughout the three-day show to answer questions and provide information on equine-related topics.

Livestock studies, pasture systems, forest management and water quality will be among the topics featured on several research and educational tours during Ag Progress Days.

Most of the tours will transport visitors by bus to locations in and around Penn State’s Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center, a 2,400-acre facility where researchers in the College of Agricultural Sciences study technologies and best practices in farming, conservation and natural resources. Those who can’t attend the annual expo still can get a flavor for Penn State agricultural research by viewing online virtual tours that are available anytime.

All Ag Progress Days tours are free, and all except the Water Wellhead Safety tour require tickets, which can be obtained at the departure point at the corn crib near the top of Main Street at the show site. Most of the tours involve some walking or standing.

Visitors to the Farm Safety Demonstration Area can learn about the hazards of flowing grain in confined-space grain storage and best practices to avoid and respond to entrapment risks.

Six demonstrations — at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday — will show how grain flows in storage structures, as well as hazards, anchor points and best practices for preventing grain entrapment and engulfment.

On Wednesday, Aug. 10, agricultural safety specialists will hold two grain-bin rescue demonstrations to highlight rescue devices and training available to first responders to properly manage on-farm incidents involving grain storage. These demonstrations will take place at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

At the adjacent Rural Health and Safety Tent, health specialists will offer carotid artery screenings, vision screenings, and health and safety information daily from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Crops, Soils and Conservation Area

In the J.D. Harrington Crops, Soils and Conservation Building, specialists from Penn State and other organizations will be on hand to answer questions about crop production, weed identification, water quality and biofuels. Visitors can ask questions about crop and nutrient management, no-till practices, organic farming and sustainable agriculture, and even bring weeds for experts to identify.

Outside the Harrington Building, the Conservation Exhibit Area will include demonstrations supported by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. With a focus on working farms, NRCS technical staff will feature an active livestock watering system with solar-powered pumps for grazing operations; a scale model manure storage and concrete heavy-use area to address animal concentration areas and manure management; and an interactive soil tunnel to demonstrate soil health.

The 2022 Pennsylvania Hay Show, sponsored by the Pennsylvania Forage and Grassland Council, also will take place in the Harrington Building. Hay producers can bring samples to be evaluated.

Open to all ages, the Family Room is located on Main Street between Eighth and Ninth streets at the Ag Progress Days site. Several talks will take place each day, covering topics such as kinship family resources, financial literacy, sun protection and skin cancer, poison prevention, ticks, and stress in agriculture.

Educators from the Penn State Extension Food, Families and Health and Food Safety and Quality teams will prepare healthy recipes and demonstrate safe home food preservation techniques. Demonstrations will feature strawberry spinach salad; ginger lime watermelon salad; Mediterranean chickpea salad; strawberry salsa; grilled corn salad with avocado and tomato; classic Caesar salad; and a blueberry and cream smoothie.

Experts include Penn State Extension Master Gardeners, extension educators, and specialists in horticulture, plant pathology and entomology. Master Gardeners from across the state will dispense advice to gardening enthusiasts. There also will be presentations on container gardening, seed saving, building raised beds, winter sowing, flower arranging and tomato grafting.

The flowers and plantings in the garden attract and nourish huge numbers of native bees, butterflies and other pollinators. With pollinators in jeopardy, Penn State Master Gardeners teamed up with horticulture faculty members to create and nurture the gardens — located at the end of 11th Street at the show site — to demonstrate that supplying pollinators with food and habitat can be beautiful.

There will be an observation beehive nearby, where experts from the Pennsylvania State Beekeepers Association and Penn State Extension will conduct honey bee demonstrations and provide guidance.

The Pasto Agricultural Museum offers hands-on exhibits to connect visitors to their agricultural past. The approximately 1,300 items in the collection span from 4,000 B.C. to the 1940s — before the widespread use of electricity and gasoline-powered equipment — when farm and household work was accomplished with the muscle power of people and animals.

Programs at the museum during Ag Progress Days will immerse visitors in thinking about food and fiber systems and natural resources. They will provide an opportunity to explore critical issues facing agriculture and the environment in a historical context.

Sponsored by Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, Ag Progress Days is held at the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center at Rock Springs, 9 miles southwest of State College on Route 45. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 9; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Aug. 10; and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 11. Admission and parking are free.

For more information, visit the Ag Progress Days website. Twitter users can find and share information about the event by using the hashtag #agprogressdays, and the event also can be found on Facebook (@AgProgressDays).

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