Mark your calendars for the nation’s largest outdoor farm show. The 2008 Farm Progress Show will be held at a new location in Boone, Iowa August 26 through 28. Show coordinators have announced that construction at the site will be completed in time for this year’s event. John Deere highlighted its latest innovations in precision technology at last year’s show. Look for new cutting edge software and machinery at this year’s event.
“Everything is on pace,” says Matt Jungmann, Farm Progress national shows manager, after his weekly meeting with the site developing engineers and construction managers Thursday afternoon. “All construction scheduled for this year will be completed in time for this year’s show.”
All the major earth-moving will be finished this week. Then it’s on to the final phase of the grass seeding and perimeter fence installation which starts next week. Some of the upgraded show features that are nearly finished include permanent restrooms and hard surfaced roads – two features that really enhance the comfort factors for show visitors. Field crops and plots are planted and growing, as well. Electricity and telephone systems are 60% completed.
Long-term facilities for the show known as the “Super Bowl of Agriculture” have been established to avoid weather-related interruptions and to provide visitors and exhibitors with even better show experiences. Visitors at the 2005 and 2007 shows held at its first permanent biennial location near Decatur, Ill., have been very impressed with the show’s upgraded facilities. The show now rotates between the Boone and Decatur sites. The Boone site is developed on nearly 600 acres at the intersection of U.S. Highway 30 and Iowa Highway 17.