Another day, off to another farm show. After Cindy and I got in to St. Louis last night we re-grouped and re-packed. She’s going to be attending an event for Agrotain in St. Louis today while I’m on my way to Columbus, OH and the Farm Science Review.
This will be my first time at the show and you’ll be seeing interviews with coverage sponsors, Monsanto and the Propane Education and Research Council.
I’ll get in early this afternoon and probably start posting later today.
2008 Features at a Glance
* This is the 46th Farm Science Review, the 26th at the Molly Caren Agricultural Center.
* Hundreds of demonstration plots and several million dollars worth of machinery.
* Nineteenth-year inductions into the Farm Science Review Hall of Fame.
* Ohio Farmer Conservation Awards; Thursday at 11:30.
* OSU Central, featuring demonstrations and displays from OSU colleges and departments.
* Lots of farm safety, home safety and health information.
* Global Positioning Systems (GPS) hands-on demonstrations in the demonstration fields.
* Expanded programs on conservation practices in the Gwynne Conservation Area.
* An arts and crafts exhibit tent.
* Permanent washroom facilities with diaper changing stations.
Field Demonstrations
Harvesting, strip-tilling, global positioning, and tillage demonstrations will take place every day. Check the schedule for demonstration times.
We expect to completely fill the commercial exhibit area this year, with about 600 exhibitors from all over North America in the Central Exhibit Area.
I like the way Fran Fischler, President of the IFAJ Congress 2008, started his remarks at the end of the event.
The new President of IFAJ is Mike Wilson, Farm Progress Companies.
Then during our final dinner of the IFAJ Congress in Portoroz Mike took the microphone as the new man in charge. 
The final night’s activities at the IFAJ Congress was a historic event for me. The only IFAJ President I’ve ever known up until this Congress was David Markey and this was when he turned the reins over to a new leader. 
Then David had some time to talk about his opportunity to serve IFAJ as President. If you know David then you know that he’s a professional and a businessman. I think he brought the organization a new outlook that has helped it to grow significantly. He looks at things a little differently than your average person with an insight that comes from years of successful business management. 
Here’s something you just don’t see much any more. Telephone booths. I remember when we used to be able to unscrew the mouthpieces and plug our recorders into them with alligator clips to send audio back home. I also remember moving to Missouri and stopping at one of these in north Illinois during the winter to call home when the wind chill was about 10 below. I like emailing or uploading from the warm comfort of my room now!
The IFAJ Congress has concluded but AgWired coverage of the event has not. Over the next several days I’ll be featuring more interviews and video clips. Our schedule and internet access has worked against me a little bit. Cindy and I just got back into Graz where we’ll fly out early tomorrow for St. Louis. At the moment, the internet access here in the hotel is not working. However, I was able to get online behind the desk in the lobby.
Portoroz is a beautiful little town on the Adriatic coast. The weather changed last night as we came in from Austria and we’ve been getting some light sprinkles all morning.
Greeting the IFAJ Congress at our first dinner in Portoroz was the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food, Iztok Jarc. He had a challenge because just prior to our dinner the weather changed completely and we had a drenching lightning storm. It forced the restaurant to make some major adjustments to the settings but finally we got everyone under cover and seated.
Our first stop on the Tour III group yesterday was KWB, a company that manufactures biomass heating systems. Basically these are various size heaters using wood chips or wood pellets for fuel.