What is in this article?:
- Mid-South Farm & Gin Show scheduled Feb. 25-26
- Bumper crop of new products
- Informational Ag Update education seminars will be held Friday, Feb. 25, and Saturday, Feb. 26, beginning at 8:30 a.m., and will feature outlooks for cotton and grains as well as comments from cotton industry officials.
- In addition to the Ag Update seminars, a special educational seminar on weed resistance and invasive species is planned for Saturday afternoon. University and industry specialists will address the challenges associated with resistant weeds and invasive species and outline potential solutions.
When the Mid-South Farm & Gin Supply Exhibit launched in 1951, American farmers attending were optimistic about the future. After all, they were coming off a decade described by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a decade of technological revolution in which “agricultural technology brought increased yields and more specialized, capital-intensive farms.”
That description is not unlike the environment today in which technology has, again, revolutionized American agriculture.
Many of those technological revolutions will be on display at the Cook Convention Center, Feb. 25-26, 2011, at the 59th annual Mid-South Farm and Gin Show. And farmers attending will likely display a similar optimism as those who attended that first show, according to Timothy L. Price, show manager. “The optimism will be coupled with excitement and an air of uncertainty due to the change, turn-around, and restructuring of the past several years,” Price says.
Price notes the volatility of historic high crop and input prices followed by significant challenges fueled by the economic downturn, but says, “Yet, in the past year, prices have rebounded and we have seen an unbelievable harvest in terms of weather. In many ways, we’re still catching our breath as we enter a new decade. We’re optimistic, but uncertain, because there are so many variables in play that can move our business one way or the other in a short period of time.”
Sponsored by the Southern Cotton Ginners Association and Foundation and Delta Farm Press, the South’s largest indoor farm show will include more than 400 exhibitors, featuring the latest products and services available for farmers.
