ROCKSPRING (Centre Co.)
Visitors can compete in a
“largest weed” contest, learn
from police officers about farm
road safety, watch antique farm
equipment demonstrations, or
see some cutting-edge inven
tions and innovations from Penn
State researchers at Ag Progress
Days, Aug. 15-17.
The event highlights Penn
State’s role in creating break
throughs in science and technol
ogy. Sponsored by Penn State’s
College of Agricultural Sciences,
Ag Progress Days is conducted
at the university’s Russell E.
Larson Agricultural Research
Center at Rockspring, near
State College.
Visitors seeking a challenge
can wander down to the Crops
and Soils Tent. Instead of pull
ing pesky weeds, gardeners and
farmers can bring in two of their
largest weeds and try to win the
“Largest Weed in Pennsylva
Progress Days To Open Aug.
Ag
nia” contest. Visitors can enter
two weeds that have been grown
in Pennsylvania. All entries
must be cut off at ground level.
There are two categories: broad
leaf and grass. Prizes are
awarded daily. Nearby is the ex
panded “A-Maze-N Com,” a
com maze where brave visitors
can spend a few minutes or sev
eral hours testing their sense of
direction.
The college’s exhibit, “Inven
tions and Innovations,” focuses
on several inventions from Penn
State researchers that created
usable products for Pennsylva
nia businesses, as well as exam
ples of how College of
Agricultural Sciences research
ers adapted and improved exist
ing technologies.
“Most people believe the
hardest work is thinking up an
invention,” said George Hamil
ton, senior lecturer in agronomy
and inventor of the turfgrass
product Penn Mulch. “This ex
hibit will show how Penn Staters
work through a long process to
bring new technology to the
market.”
The College Exhibits Building
will feature a display on Hamil
ton’s Penn Mulch, a self
contained mulching product for
use on lawns and gardens.
Penn Mulch, also sold under the
trade name Emerge, created a
new product category for lawn
and garden retailers.
Another turfgrass-related in
novation centers on creating
grass athletic field turf surfaces
literally overnight. Working
with DuPont Inc. and Hummer
Athletic Fields, Andrew McNitt,
assistant professor of turfgrass
science, helped research and test
Grass Tiles, a stadium turf
system that lays squares of grass
over asphalt surfaces to form a
full-size athletic field. Visitors
can see the machines used to lay
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 12, 2000-A23
the grass squares, as well as test
ing equipment used to simulate
football games and other types
of wear.
Visitors can see high technol
ogy in an eggshell at a display
featuring a Penn State invention
that perfected the process of
separating eggshells from the
thin protein membrane within
the shell.
By separating these materials,
an egg-processing company can
recover salable calcium from the
eggshells and collagen from the
shell membrane. Joseph
Mac Neil, professor emeritus of
food science, will demonstrate
the original prototype he used to
create a technology now used by
Cutler Eggs, a Philadelphia egg
processing company.
Other displays will focus on a
computer model called CIM
PSU, which uses economic in
formation to predict the effects
of bringing new businesses into a
15
community or to determine how
the closing of a major business
will affect the economic health
of a town.
Farmers and suburban com
muters will get a chance to see
how to operate farm equipment
safely on public roads. Officers
from the Northern York County
Regional Police Department will
deliver a seminar on safe farm
vehicle operation methods. The
seminar is at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Tuesday and Wednesday in the
College Building Theatre and at
11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Thursday in
the adje'cent College Building
Tent.
Safety-minded visitors also
can drop by the College Build
ing Tent to see youth compete in
the Farm Safety and Health
Quiz Bowl on Wednesday. 4-H
competitions start at 9 a.m. and
FFA teams compete at 1 p.m.
In the days before motorized
(Turn to Pago A 26)