Farm Science Review: ‘I Love the Atmosphere Here’
Story by Alayna DeMartini and Kurt Knebusch | Photos by Ken Chamberlain
They came, they saw, they discovered, they tried to stay hydrated.
Ohio’s 56th annual Farm Science Review wrapped up Thursday, Sept. 20. Hosted by The Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES), the three-day event took place under sunny blue skies with temperatures reaching the mid- to high 80s. A reporter from Minnesota joked, “I’ve never been to the Review when it wasn’t hot.”
More than 600 exhibitors from CFAES and industry showcased their latest new research and equipment.
In all, some 108,074 people attended — farmers, gardeners, teachers, students, business owners, families and their friends. Here are snapshots of some of them.
Desholion Curtis
Curtis, from Chicago, practiced urban farming in high school. He’s now a senior majoring in agricultural sciences at Ohio’s Central State University in Wilberforce, about 30 miles southwest of London. His first-time visit to the Review was made with some of his classmates from Central State, all of them studying agricultural education. “I’m just really excited to explore more and represent my university, a land-grant university,” he said.
Jamison McClanahan
McClanahan helps farm corn, soybeans and Angus cattle in West Union in southern Ohio. Among his favorite parts of the Review: Checking out new machinery, he said, and “spending the day with my dad.”
Erica Hillard
Hillard brought a crew along with her: 89 students and chaperones from Northwest High School in Springfield, where she works as an agricultural education instructor. “We’re helping with a school garden for our multi-handicap unit,” she said. The students explored the Review, including its Utzinger Memorial Garden, to get ideas for plants for their garden. For now, it grows carrots, peas and lettuce. But the students are planning to develop it further to turn it into an outdoor classroom.
Ron Bates
Bates raises cattle and pigs in Sarahsville in eastern Ohio. “I haven’t been here since I was in school” about 20 years ago, he said. This time, “I brought the kids,” sons Cyler, 11, and Casen, 2. “It’s time for them to see farming and larger equipment.”
Colin Henry
Henry, from Bellefontaine, recently left farming. “But I want to get back into it,” he said. He helped raise corn, soybeans and beef cattle in North Baltimore near Bowling Green. Now, to stay current, he checks out the Review’s equipment displays and field demonstrations. The field demos are “good for seeing how much power the tractors put out,” he said. “I love the atmosphere here. It’s peaceful, and everyone is friendly.”
Jessica Kasler
“We come to Farm Science Review every year,” said Kasler of Pickaway County, who grows a 5-acre garden of sweet corn and green beans. “My husband likes the old equipment in some of the buildings. The kids [sons Nolan, 4, and Avery, 1] love looking at the tractors.”
Brian Morgan
Morgan’s business is farming. He raises corn, soybeans, wheat, hay, cows, chickens and sheep in Fairborn near Dayton. He comes to the Review to find new ways to keep his business running well. “I want to see what’s new and what’s available for sale that will help me out,” he said.
The Landes Family
Ronald and Julie Landes and their sons Marcus and Titus produce cattle, hogs, chickens, wheat, corn and soybeans in Eaton, west of Dayton. Julie said they come to the Review to learn about new products and practices, including related to practical matters such as managing manure odors. Her family likes “any booth that has to do with our farm,” she said.
Michael Streng
Streng gave two reasons for attending the Review. “I’m here to keep up with all the technology in the farm industry, and also to get out of the house.” At home in Plain City in central Ohio, he grows sunflowers, tomatoes and squash in his garden. He enjoys people-watching at the Review. “It’s like a walking sideshow,” he said with a laugh.
Jeff Weeks
Weeks raises soybeans and corn on his farm in Pleasant Hill in western Ohio, as well as peppers, tomatoes and green beans in his garden. “This is the first time I’ve come here and not been responsible for a lot of kids,” said the recently retired Upper Valley Career Center (Piqua) agricultural instructor. He said the great range of new technology on display, such as driverless tractors, “shows you how agriculture has evolved.”
Learn more
Find details on Farm Science Review on its website. See previous years’ photos on its Flickr site.
Planning ahead? Next year’s Review is set for Sept. 17-19.