Submitted by Jim Crawford, County Program Director

The Graves-Chapple Research Center is opening its doors for anyone interested in celebrating and learning about agriculture, gardening and food.
The event, “Fun at the Farm!” will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, September 16, at the Graves-Chapple Research Center near Corning, Mo.
“This is an opportunity for us to talk with anyone that is interested in agriculture,” Superintendent Jim Crawford said. “We really want people to come in and ask questions, have fun and really enjoy themselves.”
The event is free to attend and will include a free lunch and door prizes. The event includes presentations, live demonstrations and several booths.
The event will be family friendly as well, with a petting zoo, coloring table and trolley ride for children and a hayride for everyone.
“We’re excited to get the entire family to the farm. It will be a great atmosphere to ask questions,” Crawford said. “We’ll have all kinds of activities for every age group.”
Topics will include raising hops at home, renewable energy for your home or business and how weed seeds spread. A highlight will be the opportunity for attendees to explore a cow’s digestive tract using the cannulated cow, a cow that has had a door surgically implanted into its digestive tract. “The cannulated cow is always the most popular station at our Youth Ag Days.  We wanted to give the public a chance to utilize this great teaching aid to learn a little bit more about where their food comes from,” Crawford said.
“Everyone is tied to agriculture in some way,” Crawford said. “There is a lot of misinformation out there where people aren’t telling the whole story about agriculture. We want to be able to share information about modern agriculture and how we are being careful stewards of the environment.  We need agriculture and farmers because food does not come from a grocery store.”
Pink pumpkins will be on sale for $5 each with the proceeds going to cancer awareness.  Twelve varieties of ornamental corn and 6 types of ornamental gourds will also be available for purchase as a “U pick it”.
The Graves-Chapple Research Center is located at 29955 Outer Road, Fairfax, MO 64446. For more information, call 660-744-6231 or email crawfordj@missouri.edu.