FARM PROGRESS DAYS TO FEATURE TECHNOLOGY, EXOTIC ANIMALS

Associated Press / Statewire

(Editor's note: This is hardly peripheral: just one ref. to hemp: Among the
non-conventional will be displays on industrial hemp growers, dairy sheep,
bison, ostriches and organic farming. pd)

Visitors to Farm Progress Days will see displays on the latest farm
machinery, but they also will get the chance to look at some
non-conventional farm enterprises concerning industrial hemp -- and even
ostriches.

The 45th annual event, one of the largest agricultural shows in the nation,
will be held Tuesday through Thursday on two farms near Menomonie in Dunn
County.

Since the show last appeared in the northwestern Wisconsin county 36 years
ago, much has changed in farming.

Computer technology is now commonly used by farmers to help them increase
the yield of their animals and land.

" It' s grown dramatically, " said Laverne Ausman, chairman of this year' s
event. " The number of exhibitors has changed, the nature of how you run
the show has changed. The basic fundamentals of demonstrating in the field
are still there but it' s just gotten so much better."

Ausman was a volunteer when Dunn County hosted Farm Progress Days in 1962.
More than 100, 000 people are expected to turn out for the three-day event,
which will feature the latest in agriculture.

" This is our big ' What' s new?' show. What' s new in farm equipment,
technology and information, " said Jim Faust, Dunn County' s University of
Wisconsin Extension agriculture agent.

This year' s event will be held at Rusk Prairie Farms and Priceland Jerseys.

Rusk Prairie Farms is owned by Donald and Marilyn Fanetti and managed by
Kris Leable and his family. The 1, 750-acre diversified grain operation
includes corn, soybeans, dark red kidney beans and alfalfa.

Priceland Jerseys is owned and operated by Charles and Jean Price. Their
40-cow herd is ranked as the second most productive Jersey herd in the nation.

For this year' s show, five huge combines will be brought in to demonstrate
grain harvesting with the grain dumped in a special clear-sided wagon so
spectators can see how well the machines perform.

Faust said the show is focusing on diversity this year, with an entire tent
devoted to non-conventional farm enterprises.

Among the non-conventional will be displays on industrial hemp growers,
dairy sheep, bison, ostriches and organic farming.

" This is a one-stop shopping place, " Faust added. " This is the first
year we' re going to have over-the-counter sales. If there' s a product
useful to agriculture, you can buy it. Feed, the fencing guys, you name it,
it' s here."

Agriculture is the largest single industry in Dunn County, employing about
15 percent of the county' s 16, 000-person work force and with another 17
percent employed in agriculture-related businesses.

Farm Progress Days will be held in Grant County in 1999.

Copyright 1998 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Checked-by: Pat Dolan