MEDIA ADVISORY

From: Purdue Agricultural Communications

Date: May 17, 2006

Subject: Farm Management Tour media day set for May 25

Media can attend a May 25 preview tour of farms in Hamilton and Madison counties to be showcased in this year's Purdue Farm Management Tour. The tour includes family-owned farms, an agritourism enterprise and a wholesale greenhouse. Farm operators will give presentations and speak with reporters wanting to work on advance stories about the public tour, which will take place on June 28-29.

This year for media day, morning tours are designated exclusively for media. During the media preview, two farms will visited — Smith Family Farms and Flanders A-Maizing Grain.

Smith Family Farms, located on the edge of suburbia, features a dairy replacement heifer operation and an agritourism enterprise that began with a passion for education. The Smiths are continuously finding new ways to add value to their operation, whether by building a party barn or making a corn-maize, while simultaneously educating non-farmers about agriculture.

Flanders A-Maizing Grain, a multigenerational management and information-intensive family farm, has positioned itself to operate a profitable grain operation with 100 percent of its acres under contract. The focus at this site will be on quality production, vertical tillage in no-till, residue management and planning for a child to return to the farm business.

Purdue vans to the tour sites will leave from the Agricultural Administration Building dock at 8:30 a.m. Reporters who would like a ride should call Christine Strawsma at (765) 494-4206.

The tour schedule is as follows:

• 10 a.m. — Smith Family Farms, 7137 W. County Road 675 S., Pendleton.

• 10:45 p.m. — Flanders A-Maizing Grain Inc., 14827 Strawtown Ave., Noblesville.

Any reporters wanting to see all the farms can meet with faculty at the Flanders' farm. Afternoon site visits are:

• 1 p.m. — Shuter's Sunset Farms Inc., 7400 N. County Road 400 W., Frankton.

• 2:30 p.m. — Rulon Enterprises Inc., 10701 E. 281st St., Arcadia.

Descriptions and a map of each of the farms are available online.

For more information about the public tour, contact Alan Miller at (765) 494-4203. For more information about the media tour, contact Julie Douglas, Purdue Agricultural Communication news writer, at (765) 496-1050, douglajk@purdue.edu.

Ag Communications: (765) 494-2722;
Beth Forbes, forbes@purdue.edu
Agriculture News Page

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