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Visitors began flocking to the Kentucky Expo Center starting yesterday to see the latest equipment, tools, and products from around the agricultural industry at the annual National Farm Machinery Show.
Running through Saturday, February 15, the NFMS features exhibitors showcasing everything from fencing tools and fertilizer to the heavy equipment that our nation’s farmers use to get the seeds into the ground and the food out of the fields and onto our tables.
There is a little bit of something for everyone, including live demos and seminars covering topics such as market and weather outlooks, technology in the ag industry, materials handling, herbicide systems, and more.
The show also features a Gift & Craft Marketplace offering all sorts of decorations, home goods, clothing, and more that represent the rural lifestyle.
While the event is free, parking at the Kentucky Expo Center is $10 for cars and $20 for buses. Visitors will also have the opportunity to register for free to win some great prizes such as a John Deere Gator, 1 of 2 Bobcat CT1025 with Front End Loader and Mower, or one of two Milwaukee Tool M18 Fuel, 18V Lithium Ion Brushless Cordless 12 Hammer Drill/Driver Kit with Two 5.0 Ah Batteries and Hard Case.
Don’t Miss the Nation’s Largest Indoor Farm Show, Gift & Craft Craft Market, and Championship Tractor Pull Finals
The 52nd annual National Farm Machinery Show at the Kentucky Expo Center is more than two days in, but visitors still have time to get in on the action.
With nearly 900 vendors in the farm show exhibit area and the Gift & Craft Market, the event is not just for those in the commercial agriculture industry. Everyone from home gardeners to country craft lovers will find something to spark their interest, from free seminars to face-time with vendors to the excitement of truck and tractor pulling competitions.
While the NFMS itself is free to attend and open to the public, the associated Championship Tractor Pull events each night, with an afternoon matinee on Saturday, require reserved seat tickets, which start at $20. Fans will be treated to thundering excitement as drivers compete in ten weight-based divisions as they try to drag weighted sleds down the full length of the dirt track. If two or more drivers in a division succeed in making a “full pull,” more weight is added and they try again and the driver who pulls the sled farthest wins.
The tense – and LOUD – competition isn’t just for bragging rights, either. Competitors are vying for a piece of a quarter-million dollar purse. Don’t forget your ear plugs!
Fans wanting to check out the powerful machines before they roar into the arena can visit the pit area in Broadbent Arena, where they can get up close and personal with the trucks and tractors and trucks and meet drivers for photos and autographs. The pit area is open today from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 9 to 11 a.m.
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Just one week from today, the 52nd National Farm Machinery Show is returning to Louisville and brining with it the 49th annual Championship Tractor Pull.
The event, hosted at the Kentucky Exposition Center at 937 Phillips Lane, runs from Wednesday, February 15, through Saturday, the 18th. KY Expo Center parking is $8 with admission to the Farm Machinery Show free and open to the public. Tickets for the Championship Tractor Pull are available through Ticket Master starting at $20.
The National Farm Machinery Show is the nation’s largest indoor farm show, featuring nearly 900 exhibitors, offers the most complete selection of cutting-edge agricultural products, equipment and services available in the farming industry. In addition to seeing the industry’s newest products , visitors can attend free seminars from experts on topics including the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), data handling, weather and commodity trends, and marketing.
Tyne Morgan and Al Pell will also be performing a live-taping of “U.S. Farm Report” during the show that visitors can stop by and watch. The show also features more than 80 vendors in the Gift & Craft Market in the South Wing Mezzanine, offering something for everyone.
Championship Tractor Pull
Former champions and a record-breaking number of women drivers will compete for a share of the $250,000 purse in 2017 at the 49th annual Championship Tractor Pull.
2016 champions including Terry Blackbourn, Steve Bunnage, and Mendi Nelson, among others are returning to try to keep their titles. The 2017 competition will also break last year’s record for women competitors as Anna Belle Bradley, Ashley Corzine, Julia Ray, and Kentucky’s own Monica Shaw and Lisa Tatum, along with many other female pullers enter the arena.
Over 70,000 fans are expected to attend the competition, which will include several new categories such as the 6,350 Modified 4×4 Truck and 9,500 Limited Pro Stock Tractor classes.
If you like the roar of Pro Stocks, Super Stocks, Modified, and Alcohol Tractors as well as two- and four-wheel drive trucks battling it out in the dirt, don’t miss the excitement every night of the 2017 National Farm Machinery Show in Freedom Hall.
Farm Safety Symposium opens 2016 Dixie Fire School in Elizabethtown
Three Kentucky farmers who survived major accidents will address the 23rd annual Louis Crosier Farm Safety Symposium on Friday at 7 p.m. EST at the Elizabethtown Community and Technical College. Dale Dobson, administrator of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s Farm and Home Safety Program, will lead the Farm Safety Symposium and serves as president of the Dixie Fire School.
“These courageous individuals are willing to share their experiences so no one else suffers what they have suffered,” Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles said. “The best way to deal with a farming accident is to prevent it from happening in the first place. That’s the purpose of KDA’s Farm and Home Safety Program – to educate people to practice safety at all times, on and off the farm.”
Gary Rock of LaRue County, Jack Trumbo of Shelby County, and Anna Ellis of Eddyville will tell how they were injured, how they endured the long and often painful road to recovery – and how their accidents could have been prevented.
The Farm Safety Symposium kicks off the 2016 Dixie Fire School, a three-day event that provides continuing education for first responders and youth on a wide variety of subjects, including rescue from grain storage facilities and large-animal emergencies. Some courses offer college credit hours.
The KDA’s Farm and Home Safety Program travels all over Kentucky to deliver farm, ATV, and lawn mower safety demonstrations. The program operates a one-of-a-kind rollover tractor simulator that demonstrates how a rollover protective structure (ROPS) and seat belt can save a tractor operator from injury or death in the event of a rollover. The program uses a miniature grain bin and gravity wagon to show the risk of becoming trapped in grain, and a power-take-off (PTO) apparatus that demonstrates the dangers of getting caught in a moving PTO, which is a rapidly rotating drive shaft used to power farm implements.
