This year brings plenty of new features to the Husker Harvest Days site west of Grand Island, including new expansions and existing features that have been completely revamped.

Along with the 10 miles of crushed rock added to the visitor and exhibitor parking lots, a new volunteer parking lot with crushed rock has been added on the northeast corner of the exhibit area. Just south of this, a precision demonstration area has also been added.

What's new at Husker Harvest Days

North of the exhibitor parking lot, you'll find a new 80-by-100-foot Diversified Industries tent. "It's where a lot of UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) technology and other technology that's been advancing so quickly in recent years are going to be focused," says host farmer Jason Luebbe. This includes everything from GPS-guidance to remote sensing. "It's what I would call the tent of the latest and greatest."

Just north of that tent is an additional precision demonstration area. "When the visitors come in in the morning, most of our foot traffic comes in in on Main or South Street," says Roger Luebbe Husker Harvest Days operations manager. "They'll be able to watch demonstrations from the street."

Other new facilities and equipment include updated Morton and Lester buildings, a new building added to the Sukup lot, an additional GPS-operated corner pivot irrigation system from T&L, and the new grain handling system installed northwest of the exhibit area last year by Global Industries, Inc., featuring a 30,000 bushel MFS grain bin and a NECO model D24150 grain dryer with a capacity of about 2,500 bushels per hour. "Construction is going on at the show site two to three months before the show," Jason says. "Everybody's fine-tuning their exhibits."

Visitors will also get a chance to see corn and soybeans planted in August. John Deere representatives planted corn and soybeans using a planter equipped with high-speed row units just north of the north shuttle road, adjacent to the northeast quadrant.

Cover crops have drawn a lot of attention in recent years, and this year, Hagie Manufacturing has used a high-clearance STS applicator equipped with the Cover Crop Insterseeder option to seed cover crops to just west of the alfalfa demonstration field in the self-propelled sprayer Ride 'n' Drive area.

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One-stop shop
For three days, Husker Harvest Days becomes a small city, and a one-stop shop for agricultural information and education. Farmers are always looking to improve efficiency – especially during years like this, when margins are tight.

With nearly 600 exhibitors on the 80-acre exhibit area, including industry representatives and experts on-hand to give farmers and ranchers the information they need on the latest equipment, technology, and management practices, Husker Harvest Days is the perfect place to do this.

One of the biggest highlights each year is seeing new equipment in action at field demonstrations. This year's demonstrations will include corn combining, tillage, haying, and precision farming. Here, not only can you visit with company representatives in the exhibit area, but you can also see it under real-time field conditions and see how it stacks up with the competition.

In addition to live cattle demonstrations in the Livestock Industries Building, you can talk with sales reps from manufacturers of fencing, livestock panels, buildings and facilities, livestock waterers and feeding systems, and haying equipment. Breed associations and livestock organizations will also be on hand.

Nebraska's commodity associations have booths or buildings to inform members and non-members alike about their services and positions on issues.

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"Successfully weathering extremes," is the theme for this year's University of Nebraska-Lincoln Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources exhibit. The exhibit is focused on planning for potential weather extremes from climate change on the farm and ranch. This includes individual exhibits covering a range of topics in UNL's Husker Red steel building, and outdoor demonstrations and exhibits on UNL's open lots.

Health screening booths are a big draw in the Nebraska Farmer Hospitality Tent. Screening services include skin evaluations, lung function, blood pressure tests, cholesterol screening and hearing tests.

At the Natural Resource Building, the Nebraska Association of Resources Districts partners with other agencies to create a true "one-stop-shop" for natural resources questions and answers on conservation programs. The Natural Resources Districts will be honoring three new inductees into the NRD Hall of Fame 2015 class, and again will be giving away free Colorado blue spring seedlings.

Wildlife Central on Main Street will once again be teeming with information for landowners on creating wildlife habitat. Partners working in the building include Pheasants Forever, Quail Forever, Nebraska Game & Parks Commission, Nebraska Environmental Trust and Rainwater Basin Joint Venture.

Public power districts have promoted electrical safety on Nebraska's farms and ranches at HHD for years. They will be back this year with the hotline trailer to demonstrate the importance of safety – even when field operations are hurried. This includes irrigation pipe contact, trees in power lines and contact with a vehicle or equipment, to name a few.

Auctions at HHD
Stock Realty & Auction will once again team up with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in conjunction with Husker Harvest Days to conduct two auctions. The company will conduct live auctions September 15 and 16 at 1 p.m. in the Stock Auction/Big Iron tent on lot S31.

Titan Tire Corp., a subsidiary of Titan International Inc., will again be hosting a tire auction for FFA on Wednesday, Sept. 16. All proceeds from the tire auction will benefit FFA members in Nebraska. The auction will begin at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 16 on Lot 628.

These are just a few of the many things you can see and do at Husker Harvest Days. Gates open at 8 a.m. daily on Sept. 15, 16, and 17 at the show site six miles west of Grand Island on Husker Highway. Admission is $12 for adults; $6 for ages 13-17; and ages 12 and under are free. Adult discount tickets are available online.