2012 hay expo to be held near Boone
By KRISS NELSON
Farm News staff writer
BOONE The Central Iowa Expo facilities near Boone have hosted the Farm Progress show in 2008 and 2010 and is slated to be the home for the large agricultural show again in 2012. In addition to being the bi-annual home for the Farm Progress Show, the Central Iowa Expo has been home to other shows that can utilize the spacious outdoor and indoor exhibit areas.
Central Iowa Expo board members and Farm Progress Companies Inc. officials announced Tuesday morning the 2012 Farm Progress Hay Expo will be brought back to central Iowa and held at the Boone location.
The 26th annual Farm Progress Hay Expo is set for June 20 to June 21, 2012, which will precede the Farm Progress Show set for August.
Matt Jungmann, Farm Progress national shows manager, said the Farm Progress Hay Expo is a specific-type of a show that will attract only those producers that currently have hay and forage in production and feeding to livestock.
“We are looking forward of taking the show to the next step,” said Jungmann. “The show usually attracts 3,000 to 5,000 people which is not as many as the Farm Progress Show, but it is always a good qualified crowd of producers which the exhibitors like.”
Typically, the show is brought to the farmer and has a history of choosing a different location each year throughout Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, and out of the show’s 26 year history, as been hosted in central Iowa four times.
Jungmann said there are many benefits of bringing the Farm Progress Hay Expo to the Central Iowa Expo facilities where there is access to electricity, restrooms and other indoor and outdoor facilities versus the usual hay field that is host to the site in addition to being only minutes from Iowa State University.
Jungmann said that with all of the agronomy research and knowledge that comes from ISU, he believes having the show so close to Ames will profit from the information they could bring to the expo.
“We would like to eventually find a national home for the hay expo. We always take the show to the farmers and we would like to bring the farmers to the show,” said Jungmann.
For the 26th annual Farm Progress Hay Expo, the area most commonly used as parking lots during the Central Iowa Expo will be reserved for field demonstrations.
“This is a demonstration-type show,” Jungmann said.
In addition to the mowing, conditioning, baling, hay handling and silage demonstrations on alfalfa, the event will also be a place for a variety of companies to display all sorts of haying equipment, products and services.
Darrel Rensink, president of the board of directors for the Central Iowa Expo, told reporters how expo staff works with other committees from Boone and Ames to get other events to the grounds. ?In addition to the 26th annual Farm Progress Hay Expo, Rensink said they are also preparing for next year’s Farm Progress Show which he is hoping could be a place for presidential candidates to visit.
More information on the hay expo can be found at HYPERLINK “” www.HayExpo.com or call (866) 264-7469.
Contact Kriss Nelson at HYPERLINK “” jknelson@frontiernet.net.