DES MOINES – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey invited Iowans to visit the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship’s booths at the Iowa State Fair.
The theme for the Department booth in the Ag Building will be “The Original Green: Iowa Agriculture.” The urban conservation display will incorporate permeable pavements, rain gardens and native landscaping.
“The Iowa State Fair is a great showcase of Iowa agriculture and the wonderful people that make our state so productive,” Northey said. “Iowa farmers take their responsibility to help protect our soil and water very seriously, and I invite Iowans to come see how they can apply the lessons we have learned on the farm to their own home and yard.”
The Department has booths in both the Agriculture and Varied Industries buildings that will educate Iowans about the Department and also the important role of agriculture in the state.
Century Farms, those that have been in the same family for 100 years, and Heritage Farms, which have been owned by the same family for 150 years, will also be recognized at the State Fair again this year. The program will be on Tuesday, Aug. 18 for Century Farms and Thursday, Aug. 20 for Heritage farms and is sponsored by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship and the Iowa Farm Bureau.
On Friday, Aug. 21 the Department will be recognizing the winners of the 2008-2009 From the Farm to You Calendar drawing contest in the Agriculture Building. Kids from across the state submitted pictures for the calendar. Copies of the calendar are available to fairgoers at the Department’s booth in the Varied Industries Building
Fairgoers will also be able to be weighed at the Department’s booth in the Varied Industries building on a scale certified by the Weights and Measures Bureau in the Department.
