Page 2—Ag Progress Section 2, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 12, 2000
Ag Progress Days:
Major Milestones
ROCKSPRING (Centre Co.)
Penn State’s College of Agri
cultural Sciences has a long
tradition of agricultural “field
days” dating back to the late
19th Century, when Penn State
agricultural specialists traveled
to state-sponsored “Farmers In
stitutes” to demonstrate the
latest practices and disseminate
research findings and educa
tional information. Following is
a brief chronology of events and
milestones that have led to tne
diverse offerings of the contem
porary Ag Progress Days:
• 1951 Grassland Field
Days, the true forerunner of Ag
Progress Days, is begun by Penn
State Cooperative Extension
and Penn State’s Agricultural
Experiment Station. This series
of five regional events, high
lighting Pennsylvania’s strong
grass crop industry, is staged
like a traveling show, taking
place in different parts of the
state over a three
month period. Fea
tured attractions
include demonstra-
tions of techniques
and equipment for
pasture renovation
and grass crop pro
duction.
• Mid-1960s
Corn overtakes grass
as Pennsylvania’s top
crop, but interest in
Grassland Field Days
continues to grow. The
show is expanded to
include plowing con
tests, experimental
forage plots and other
features. Now re
named Forage Prog
ress Days, this
statewide event is held
once a year and ro
tates to different re
gions of the
commonwealth.
• 1969 As
Forage Progress Days
continues to grow in
size and scope, cover
ing an ever-wider
range of agricultural
science and technol
ogy, it is renamed Ag
Progress Days. The
first Ag Progress Days
is a two-day event held
at Fox Chase Farm in
Bradford County.
Featured are demon
strations of farm
equipment and pro
duction techniques,
commercial exhibits
and youth programs.
• 1971 Ag Prog
ress Days is expanded
to three days and held
for the first time at
Penn State. The site is
the university’s agri
cultural research
center at Rock
Springs, nine miles
southwest of State
College on Rt. 45.
• 1976 Ag Prog
ress Days is conducted
at Rockspring for the
second time. Because
the logistics and in
frastructure needs of
the event have become
too complex and costly
to stage the show in a
different location each
year, the university’s
agricultural research
center becomes the
permanent site.
• 1978 The Paste
Agricultural Museum
is dedicated at the Ag
Progress Days site.
• 1991 Equine
events and exhibits
take place at Ag Prog
ress Days for the first
time.
• 2000 —The 32nd
annual Ag Progress
Days exposition takes
place at Penn State’s
Russell E. Larson Ag
ricultural Research
Center at Rockspring,
Aug. 15-17.