Editor’s note: The Farm Progress Show is Aug. 27-29 in Boone, Iowa. Visit FarmProgressShow.com.

Ronald Reagan was president. Many farmers planted corn with an eight-row corn planter. The Minnesota Twins won their first World Series.

And I attended my first Farm Progress Show.

The year was 1987, when I joined Farm Progress as field editor for the Minnesota and Dakota editions of Wallaces Farmer. For me, the job was nirvana. My bosses, Monte Sesker and Frank Holdmeyer, gave me free rein (perhaps to their consternation, sometimes!) to cover agriculture in three Upper Midwest states in whatever way I chose.

“Oh, by the way,” said Monte at my interview, “we’ll get you down here working the show in a few months.”

The show.

That term stumped me. I had no idea what he meant. Well, until later in the year, anyway.

I was amazed the first time I toured the grounds the day before the show opened. Tents sprung up out of nowhere. Flags whipped in the wind. Company reps busily buzzed around, readying their exhibits.

For the next three days, thousands of cars and pickups filled with farmers converged on several farms near Polk City in central Iowa to see the latest in agricultural innovation.

Turning point

This show coincided with farmers wrestling with the gnarliest economics since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Farm bankruptcies and forced sales in a sea of crop surpluses ruled the day.

That 1987 show, though, seemed to be a turning point for farmers. Spurred by ideas gleaned at such shows, they committed to keeping their farms humming in hopes of better days. The following year, a scorching drought did what government couldn’t do: Strip the market of crop surpluses.

In future years, technologies such as precision farming, reduced tillage, automated guidance and bin-busting genetics emerged. They let farmers take advantage of the ethanol boom as crop prices moved to a new plateau and farmland values zoomed.

This coincided with improvements at the Farm Progress Show, which established permanent sites in Boone, Iowa, and Decatur, Ill. Besides the exhibit area, the Boone site has 325 acres for field demonstrations and test-drive areas, plus an additional 175 acres for parking and camping.

Boone is located smack-dab in the center of some of the world’s richest farmland. Nearby Iowa State University in Ames is a global agricultural leader in education and research. The area hosts myriad companies rolling out the latest in ag technology.

You’ll see some of this tech at the show, where firms often introduce new products. Because of this, the editorial New Products Team fans out across the showgrounds in search of new products.

There will be plenty of products to check out. For the first time, there will be two Varied Industries Tents that will feature an array of ag products and services.

Commitment to agriculture

The show isn’t just all new tech, though. It features agriculture’s heritage through its Antique Row of farm equipment.

The Canine Stars, courtesy of Grinnell Mutual Insurance, will entertain spectators at Lot 1344 with extreme sports such as dock diving, the fastest-growing sport on four legs. Also, a number of exhibitors have air-conditioned tents where you can take a load off your feet, relax, enjoy a cold one and visit with other showgoers.

Be sure to stop by the Hospitality Tent, at the junction of Central Avenue and Sixth Street, and meet some Farm Progress editors. We’d love to hear your thoughts and stories you’d like to see us cover.

Much agricultural change has occurred since 1987. What hasn’t changed, though, is the commitment to innovation and making U.S. agriculture the best it can be through the Farm Progress Show.