Even though the Farm Progress Show now has permanent sites in both Iowa and Illinois, they still have host farm families who actually own and take care of the land, especially the field demonstration plots.

Dawn and David Brix are the folks who handle the field demo plots in Decatur, Illinois on the odd years when FPS is held there. “We take care of about 225 acres that we use for combine and tillage tune up and then Tuesday and Wednesday during the shows we have demos out there,” David says.

They partner with GROWMARK FS on the field plots. “They keep an eye on it all year, whether it’s crop scouting, fungicide treatments, genetics,” David said. “They take the worry out of our hands, we’re doing the labor but they’re doing all the stuff to make sure it’s the best crop it can be.”

David says it has been a challenging year for the corn crop. “We didn’t plant until maybe the 10th, then it got flooded out and then we didn’t have another drop of rain after that,” he said. “All things considered, to still have 110-115 bushels yields, that’s pretty good.”

What do they do on the off years? “Rest, relax, just do normal farming – not all the craziness,” David said. “That’s the only good thing about not having it every year is that you get a rest year before it comes back.”

Listen to or download my interview with David here. [wpaudio url=”http://zimmcomm.biz/farm-progress/fps11-brix.mp3″ text=”FPS Field Demo Host Farmer David Brix”]

2011 Farm Progress Show Photo Album