Mark your calendars for Saturday, July 24, if you're interested in enjoying a free pancake breakfast and experiencing family fun along with a chance to learn about local farm families who produce the food you eat.

Breakfast on the Farm is a family-oriented program that welcomes neighbors and area residents to enjoy a complimentary pancake breakfast along with a self-guided tour of a family-owned farm that includes visits to various educational stations and opportunities to ask questions of local farmers. The July 24 breakfast and farm tour takes place rain or shine from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (breakfast served from 9 a.m. to noon) at the Joe and Beth Bryant family farm near Shepherd.

The self-guided tour of the Bryants' beef and cash crop farm will feature a variety of educational stations and interactive activities including a baby farm animal petting area and a maple syrup-making demonstration where people can see firsthand how maple tree sap is cooked into real maple syrup. Attendees of all ages will be eager to stand alongside and climb aboard modern-day farm equipment as well as to pet and feed baby farm animals, take a tractor and wagon ride, and touch and smell the feeds that animals eat.

Paul Gross, Isabella County Michigan State University Extension agricultural educator and organizer of the Isabella County event, says that the event was created to help non-farm families learn how modern-day farms operate.

"Farming has changed immensely since the 1970s and 1980s, and many people are not familiar with the new technology," he says.

Gross admits that there is a lot of conflicting and confusing information in the media today about farming and food production.

"Farmers are our best examples of what it means to be a steward of the land and their animals," he says. "Providing the best nutrition, health care and living conditions for the animals, which are the backbone of a farmer's business, is still priority No. 1."

With all the new technology, one thing hasn't changed: most Michigan farms are family-owned and small businesses.

"We are very fortunate to be living here in the United States, where we have an abundant, affordable and safe food supply," Gross says. "Farmers are people just like you and me. What better way to learn the real story behind modern-day farming than by coming face to face with the people who are actually producing our food? That's what Breakfast on the Farm is all about."

Agriculture adds more than $71 billion annually to the Michigan economy, which is the second most agriculturally diverse state in the country.

There is no cost to attend the event or take the tour, but tickets are required for the free breakfast. Free tickets can be obtained from the following locations: Family, Farm and Home, Alma; Siler's Market, Breckenridge; Johnston Elevator, Clare; Napa Auto Parts, Ithaca; Midland County MSU Extension Office, Tractor Supply Co. and West Midland Family Center, Midland; Animal Health Associates, Chamber of Commerce, First Bank, the Isabella County MSU Extension Office, Papa's Pumpkin Patch, the Soil Conservation District and Tractor Supply Co., Mt. Pleasant; First Bank, Remus; Baders, Rosebush and St. Louis; First Bank and Shepherd IGA, Shepherd; Wincell Cellular Corporation and Winn Telephone Co., Winn; and all locations of Brown Milling, Inc.

Breakfast on the Farm is organized by the Isabella County MSU Extension Office and the Isabella County Michigan Farm Bureau.

Statewide sponsoring partners for the 2010 Breakfast on the Farm are Dairy Farmers of America, Dairyland Seed, Greenstone Farm Credit Services, the Michigan Milk Producers Association, Pioneer and the United Dairy Industry of Michigan.

To get more information about Breakfast on the Farm or to reserve tickets, contact Jayme Martin at 989-772-0911, ext. 302 or [email protected].

For more information about Breakfast on the Farm or to download directions to the Bryant farm, visit www.breakfastonthefarm.com.