By NANCY VORIS
Indiana Correspondent

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The 77th annual Indiana Farm Management Tour, featuring four farms with different irrigation systems and a variety of specialty crops, will be held June 23-24 in LaPorte and Starke counties.

The two-day tour, hosted by the Purdue University Cooperative Exten-sion Service, the Purdue Department of Agricultural Economics and the Indiana Farm Management Assoc., will cover farm management topics from seed corn production to energy use in grain drying systems and from logistics, data and information management to surface and subsurface water management.

“It’s really a unique opportunity for farmers and others in the agribusiness industry to step into a working farm and learn about their management strategies, the challenges they face and what they are doing,” said Alan Miller, Purdue Extension farm management specialist and tour coordinator.

“Farmers can ask questions, bounce ideas off each other and Purdue specialists, and take a few ideas home and maybe even implement one or two of the ideas on their farm.”

The tour is free and open to the public; however, pre-registration is requested for individuals who plan to participate in the dinner on June 23 or the lunch on June 24. Pre-register by calling 219-324-9407 or 888-EXT-INFO by June 18.

The price of each meal is $5 per person and is payable on the tour. Credit cards are not accepted.

Two farm operations will be visited the first day beginning at 2 p.m. EDT at Wappel Farms near San Pierre and followed by Schafer Farms near LaCrosse at 4 p.m.

The evening stop at 6:30 p.m. at the Pinney-Purdue Agricultural Center near Wanatah highlights irrigation and mint production research. The evening program To ACRE or Not to ACRE and Other Decision-Making in the Wake of the 2008 Farm Bill, is a panel of experts that will be available for questioning.

Experts are Chris Hurt, Purdue Extension agricultural economist; Roman Keeney, Purdue Extension policy expert; and Carl Schweikhardt and Marietta Kendall, both program specialists with Indiana’s Farm Service Agency.

“This is a good opportunity to get your questions answered and get clarification on anything you may have heard, but are not sure on,” Miller said. “Hurt will be able to give a price perspective and Roman will be able to talk about whether it will pay off more than it will cost. It’s not just a program focused on ACRE, but anything that is new to us because of the 2008 farm bill.”

Day two features visits to Lawrence Brothers Farms in Knox at 9 a.m. and Abbett Farms near LaCrosse at 11 a.m. and concludes with lunch and an ag outlook by Hurt.

Farm visits include a talk by the host farm family, who describe their operation and management applications. Break-out sessions at each site give more detail on certain farm practices.

“This is a unique area of the state,” said Gene Matzat, Purdue Extension educator in LaPorte County.

“At one point the land here was not even thought to be suitable for agriculture. The sandy soils in northwest Indiana, especially along the Kankakee River, tend to be droughty in the summer but an aquifer with abundant water for irrigation has made the region a prime area for producing specialty crops.”

More information about the tour is available at www.agecon.purdue.edu/extension/programs/farm_tour.asp
The tour flyer and map is downloadable at www.agecon.purdue.edu/
extension/programs/FT_files/FMT_2009_Flier.pdf

Contact Miller at 765-494-4203 or millerwa@purdue.edu for questions and additional tour information.