By STEVE BINDER
Illinois Correspondent

CARBONDALE, Ill. — For the record, followers will have to throw out the singular “Agriculture Industry Day;” Southern Illinois University Carbondale, using flexible scheduling and taking advantage of its agriculture college’s growing popularity, has added features and expanded the event into what is now called Agriculture Industry Days.

Stretching over parts of three days, SIUC ag college representatives along with key corporate partners will showcase all things ag at three separate locations throughout Jackson County, including at the main Beef Cattle Evaluation Center, 599 Rowden Road, in Carbondale.

The event this year runs from April 14 through its main day, Saturday, April 16. All activities are free, including a signature Saluki Barbeque for lunch on April 16. “We’ve been talking about expanding the program for quite some time, and with the chancellor being installed at the same time, we thought it was a good time to make that change,” said interim Dean Todd Winters.

Last year’s single-day event drew about 1,200 people, including hundreds of prospective SIUC ag students. Part of this year’s program expansion was planned primarily with potential new students in mind. Open tours of the ag college’s new green roof, sitting atop the main Agricultural Building on campus, are available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday, April 14. It was constructed last summer and fall principally as a research tool for the college’s botany students; it also is offering other benefits, including lower utility bills.

“The Thursday event is designed to try and attract more new students, without question. But overall, we have an opportunity to showcase all aspects of what the college offers, including our strong natural resources and environmental programs to our forestry program to renewable fuels,” Winters said.

Friday and Saturday schedules include livestock judging contests, tips on landscaping and garden care, a petting zoo, demonstrations about global information systems, beef ultrasounding and a keynote address by new Chancellor Rita Cheng. The college’s enrollment climb, which reached nearly 1,000 students this year, remains one of SIUC’s brighter lights amid a steady overall enrollment drop since the mid-1990s.

Sponsors include Archer Daniels Midland, Farm Credit Services of Illinois, Green View Companies, GROWMARK Inc., Helitech, the Illinois Beef Assoc., the Illinois Corn Marketing Board, the Illinois Farm Bureau, the Illinois Fertilizer & Chemical Assoc., the Illinois Milk Producers Assoc., the Illinois Pork Producers Assoc., the Illinois Soybean Assoc., Potash Corp., Prairie Farms Dairy Inc., Scates Farms and The Maschhoffs.