The fall farm show season kicks off with the 2017 Farm Progress Show, which returns to Decatur Aug. 29-31. This year’s event adds new features, exhibits and more to the show site, returning there for the seventh time since 2005.
Farm Progress Show organizers have a singular goal: to share the biggest, brightest, newest and best in agriculture with farmers and agribusiness, says Matt Jungmann, Farm Progress director of trade shows. And in fact, the reach goes far beyond the U.S.; representatives from more than 50 countries are expected to attend the show this year.
“This is the big farm show, especially for corn and soybeans,” says Jungmann. “Most big exhibitors do six or seven shows corporately. If they’re in Midwest ag, there are a few shows that bubble to the top — FPS, Husker Harvest Days, National Farm Machinery Show. FPS is certainly the big one. It’s also the first one on the calendar. Everything is fresh and new before it hits the fall show cycle.”
Billed as the largest outdoor farm show in the U.S., the Farm Progress Show is known for its field demonstrations, complete with more than 300 acres of corn harvest, tillage and stalk baling demos. Jungmann says corn went in the ground around April 15 in “nearly perfect” planting conditions. Host farmers plant 98-to-101-day Wisconsin hybrids, so they’ll be mature and ready for harvest by late August.
Plus, be sure to check out the Case IH 125 tractor as it “floats” from one end of a 100-foot pond to the other, thanks to its Mitas tires. Jungmann says that’s guaranteed to be the exhibit everyone will be talking about this year. Look for it in the expansion area on the south end of Progress City.
Take a look through this slideshow for some of the best highlights of the show, the information you’ll need and what you can look forward to.
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