Hoosier Ag Today by: Andy Eubank
2016 Featured farmers at ISF
The Indiana State Fair featured farmer idea returns for a second year following the Year of the Farmer in 2015. The list of farmers and commodities to be featured has been released, and Lesley Gordon says the repeat this year is because of great feedback last year.
“We got some wonderful feedback from fairgoers as well as the farmers themselves getting to interact with people and getting positive reinforcement for what they do and how they do it,” the State Fair spokesperson told HAT. “And a lot of people didn’t even know of some of the commodities that are in Indiana, so it was a really great educational opportunity.”
In Indiana’s bicentennial year the fair has selected 17 featured farms that are all recipients of the Hoosier Homestead award from the Indiana State Department of Agriculture.
“That means these farms have be in the family for 100, 150, or some even 200 years. So it really ties in that rich Hoosier heritage. I remember when they mentioned that as criteria and I thought oh no, are we going to be able to get 17. We did and there is a lot of history in our state among farming, so we’re excited to teach our state a little bit more about that history.”
The Eliason Homestead will be featured on opening day of the 2016 Indiana State Fair August 5th. It is the only farm to have received the Hoosier Homestead bicentennial award. The farm began in 1814, making it two years older than the state of Indiana.
“History and heritage will be a huge focus at this year’s fair, and we are honored to work with Dow AgroSciences to welcome back our Featured Farmers to join in the celebrations,” said Cindy Hoye, Executive Director, Indiana State Fairgrounds & Event Center.
Profiles of the featured farmers and a map showing their location in Indiana is at indianastatefair.com. You can also visit with the Featured Farmers every day at 2:30 p.m. at the Glass Barn.
Here are the farms, county and their featured day at the 2016 Indiana State Fair.
Eliason Homestead, Wayne County, August 5th
Rissler Farm, Putnam County, August 6th
TK Hattery Farms, Miami County, August 7th
Springstun Farm, Warrick County, August 8th
Ramsey Farms, Shelby County, August 9th
Sands Farm Inc., Kosciusko County, August 10th
Keiser Farms, Clay County, August 11th
Rulon Enterprises LLC, Hamilton County, August 12th
Beard Family Farms LLC, Whitley County, August 13th
Kunkel Dairy Inc, Adams County, August 14th
Booher Farms, Tippecanoe County, August 15th
French Lick Winery, Martin County, August 16th
Dull’s Tree Farm and Pumpkin Harvest, Boone County, August 17th
Maple Farms, Howard County, August 18th
The Browns Inc, Starke County, August 19th
Hammelman Farm, Knox County, August 20th
Bishop Farms, Kosciusko County, August 21st
Via:: Hoosier Ag Today
The post Indiana State Fair Brings Back Featured Farmers appeared first on 101.5 WKKG.