Look around! Agriculture is everywhere, and the 2012 North Dakota State Fair will be no different! This year, the North Dakota State Fair is looking forward to educating Fair attendees on the impact that North Dakota agriculture has on the world. Two new agricultural events that will be available all nine days of the Fair include the “ND Ag Experience” and the “Agrium Seed Survivor Display”.
The “ND Ag Experience” will feature exhibits located throughout the Fairgrounds in areas that currently feature agriculture. Fairgoers are encouraged to follow farm animal footprints to these locations. At each stop large signs will provide fun facts focused on different types of agriculture and their impact on North Dakota with brochure guides available at the State Fair Center. The final stop of the tour will bring Fairgoers inside the State Fair Lobby where they will have the opportunity to fill out a quiz on what they learned about ND agriculture for a chance to win $500 in cash and other great prizes. The ND Ag Experience survey will be available every day of the Fair from 12-7pm. Special thanks are given to Niess Impressions and KCJB for helping to make this event possible.
Agrium, a fertilizer company based out of Canada, is bringing its “Seed Survivor” interactive display to the North Dakota State Fair this year. This exhibit travels North America year round teaching kids about what plants need to survive. It also teaches that plants are essential for human survival by producing food, income, oxygen and enjoyment for us all! The exhibit features multi-media and virtual reality games, an insect video scope, a watershed center, talking walls and much more. Kids will be able to plant their own seed and take it with them through the exhibit, learning what their seed will need to survive including water, light, healthy soil, and nutrients. The Agrium Seed Survivor display will be in the lobby of the North Dakota State Fair Center and will be open daily during the Fair.
The learning continues at other spots throughout our Fairgrounds as well. 4-H is running a free QR Code scavenger hunt to the Ag Experience exhibit stops on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, July 21-23. NDSU Extension Service’s crop plot in the State Fair Park displays corn, soybeans, canola and potatoes, for a close-up view of what these crops look like as they grow. Vendors specializing in farm and ranch needs will have manned booths with maps of exhibits.
Did you know that North Dakota has approximately 30,000 farms and ranches or that ND pork producers finish enough hogs to provide 3,360,000 pork chops a year? Come find out this and more fun, agricultural facts at the North Dakota State Fair!