The temporary "city" known as the Farm Progress Show is digging in and rising out of the fields at the intersection of Highways 17 and 30 east of Boone in central Iowa. Tents, mulched areas and landscaping soon will be filled and surrounded by new machinery and product displays for the international crowd that will attend the show August 28 to 30.

The hoop building that houses the main Iowa State University display is one of only a handful of permanent buildings on the site. Located at the intersection of Seventh Street and Central Avenue on the show site, the Iowa State hoop building is a place where visitors meet and talk with ISU experts and participate in interactive displays.

EXPERTS ON TAP: The Farm Progress Show is known for its extensive array of information and technology for today's farmers. It's a natural fit for Iowa State University to be integrated into different aspects of the show.

"Iowa State University has a permanent presence at the Farm Progress Show for one reason – to deliver on our land-grant mission of serving and educating," says John Lawrence, director of Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension at ISU. "By generating, sharing and applying knowledge, Iowa State has the opportunity to make the world of agriculture a better place."

Lawrence says this year's building theme, working together to care for the land, gives Iowa State faculty, researchers and extension specialists a platform for discussions about Iowa's landscape that increase visitors' understanding of the relationships between soil and water, and their interactions with plants and people.

"We want to have conversations that help people understand how the actions they take influence the landscape. We want to share the knowledge we have so people will see and talk about what they can do in their part of the landscape," said Lawrence.

Members of the ISU Extension integrated crops team – agronomists, plant pathologists, entomologists, economists, ag engineers and watershed specialists – will host the Iowa State building displays including an Ask the Experts area. A schedule of Iowa State building hosts is available online at www.extension.iastate.edu/fps and at the building during the show.

Beyond the Iowa State hoop building - other ISU exhibits and tours available

The Farm Progress Show is known for its extensive array of information and technology for today's farmers. And it is natural that Iowa State University would be integrated into different aspects of the show, including agricultural tours to nearby research projects and facilities. Around the show grounds look for Iowa State banners to locate Iowa State experts and exhibits.

* The Rural Life tent: This is a place to relax or purchase gifts; it is also the place to learn more about Annie's Project. Led nationally by a team based at Iowa State University, Annie's Project delivers farm risk management education to farm women. Annie's Project team members will be available during the show to provide more details about the program and upcoming educational offerings.

* Forestry, tractor pulling, precision agriculture: Jesse Randall, forester with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, again will operate the Iowa State Sugar House along Antique Row during the show. Further north on the east side of the show grounds the ISU Pull Club will conduct pulling exhibitions with their small scale tractors. The precision agriculture demonstration area east of the show grounds is designed to be educational and is another area where Iowa State agricultural engineers are participating.

* Rural Communities: Farm Progress editors and staffers offer the Wallaces Farmer Hospitality Tent as a central meeting place. In addition to editorial staff from the various Farm Progress publications, they are hosting the Iowa State University exhibit that was part of the 2012 Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Design in Action. The interactive exhibit demonstrates how Iowa State University has a positive impact on rural communities.

* Beginning Farmer Center: The Wallaces Farmer Hospitality Tent also is host to the Beginning Farmer Center staff and the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Tug-of-War with Grain demonstration.

Iowa State University Speakers scheduled for Wallaces Farmer seminar tent

Speakers scheduled at the Wallaces Farmer Seminar tent, just north of the Hospitality Tent, give visitors an opportunity to learn the more intricate details of farm management. Iowa State speakers are on the schedule at noon each day of the show. On Tuesday Steve Johnson, extension farm management specialist, will share farm lease information and Kelvin Leibold will take the noontime stage on Wednesday to talk about estate planning. Chad Hart, extension economist, will answer the question, "What is hotter: markets or fields?" during the Thursday session.

Alison Robertson, plant pathologist with ISU Extension and Outreach, will give disease diagnosis show-and-tell demonstrations in the Renze Seeds building on Tuesday and Wednesday. She is scheduled to be in the Iowa State building Tuesday morning and will speak in the Pioneer building on Wednesday. Elwynn Taylor, ISU Extension climatologist, also is scheduled to speak each twice each day at the Pioneer Building.

More details about ISU displays at the Farm Progress Show are available in the show program, at the Iowa State hoop building and online at www.extension.iastate.edu/fps.