AUBURN, Ala.—The public can get an up-close look at agriculture in the 21st century Saturday, Sept. 28, when the Auburn University College of Agriculture, the Alabama Cooperative Extension System and the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station present the second annual “Ag Discovery Adventure: A Window to the Future” at the E.V. Smith Research Center.
The 3,816-acre E.V. Smith Center, one of the AAES’s 15 outlying research facilities in the state, is located at Exit 26 on Interstate 85, between Montgomery and Auburn.
Ag Discovery Adventure, set for 9 a.m.-2 p.m., is free and open to the public. Gates will open at 8:30 a.m., with the official welcome set for 9 a.m. on the main stage. The event will highlight farm technology and illustrate the key role agriculture plays in every aspect of life.
“We hope to excite, entertain and educate the public about agriculture and the science and technology used to produce food, fiber, feed and energy in the world today,” said John Fulton, Auburn biosystems engineering associate professor, Extension specialist and co-chair of Ag Discovery Adventure.
This year’s Ag Discovery Adventure, set for the open date on the Auburn Tigers’ 2013 football schedule, will include high-tech treasure hunts, a corn maze, modern technology to enhance agricultural production, a pollination garden, chicks hatching, corn-shelling and -grinding demonstrations, a fisheries casting game and demonstrations of Auburn’s Vapor Wake Detection dogs at work. All activities are designed to introduce folks of all ages and walks of life to the wide world of agriculture, from crop and animal production to bioenergy and precision agriculture to home gardening and sustainability.
“For the second year in a row, we’ll have the chance to have honest dialog with consumers about where their food comes from and where they need to go to find the facts about what they’re eating,” said Lisa Kriese-Anderson, Extension specialist, associate professor in the Department of Animal Sciences and Fulton’s Ag Discovery Adventure co-chair.
Attendees can bring picnic lunches or purchase food from various vendors, including Auburn’s Collegiate Cattlemen and Cattlewomen, a group that will be selling hamburgers, cheeseburgers and pork barbecue sandwiches for $6 per plate, chips and drinks included. Though individual food sales will be cash only, large groups such as 4-H clubs and church groups can pay by check, with the stipulation that all members of each group get their food at the same time. Checks should be made out to the Collegiate Cattlemen and Cattlewomen.
Ag Discovery Adventure is co-sponsored by the Alabama Cotton Producers, Alabama Soybean Producers, Alabama Wheat and Field Grain Producers, Alabama Poultry and Egg Association, Alabama Farmers Federation and Alabama Cattlemen’s Association.
The rain date for the event is Saturday, Oct. 19.
For more information, go to www.AgDiscoveryAdventure.com, call 334-844-4768 or email agstusv@auburn.edu.