Attend this year’s Purdue Farm Management Tour and they say you’ll be touring two of Indiana’s “most innovative farms.” The Purdue Center for Commercial Ag tour is headed to Randolph County July 17, followed by the annual Master Farmer awards presentation.
Purdue’s Jim Mintert says one common theme at both stops on the tour, the Clements-Miller Farm and Union Go Dairy, is how to integrate the next generation into the operation.
“It’s a challenge financially and it’s a challenge managerially,” Mintert explains. “There’s no magic formula, and so one of the things we like to highlight in the Farm Management Tour is how different people have managed to work through the challenges that they face in bringing that next generation into the farm operation.”
Rex Clements and Wade Miller have worked for about a decade to improve drainage on the farm. Mintert says they’ll have a lot to share about their improvements.
“So much of Indiana can benefit from improving drainage and they’re going to highlight how they use technology to identify the need for drainage, how they’ve gone about actually doing it and, in their case, they actually installed the drainage themselves. They’ve purchased a self-propelled tile plow and do all the drainage work themselves, so you’ll learn a lot about identifying the need for drainage as well as how they’ve gone about actually doing it themselves, so I think it’ll be a very interesting tour.”
Tony and Yvonne Goltstein moved from Europe to start their dairy operation in 2003. Those on the tour will learn a lot about dairy operations, from the challenges to the partnerships.
“We’ll talk a little bit about the technology they use in their dairy operation and in particular they have a strong partnership with Dannon, and they’ll talk about how working with Dannon and has actually helped them become a better Dairy operation over the years,” Mintert told HAT
The Tour begins at 9 AM EDT at Clements-Miller Farm, 4698 E 600 S, Lynn, Indiana and then moves to Union Go Dairy at 1 PM at Willow’s Edge, 627 W 100 S, Winchester, Indiana. Willow’s Edge is also the venue for Master Farmers starting at 4 PM.
The Farm Management Tour and Master Farmer reception and panel discussion are free and open to the public July 17th, but registration is required. Details and registration are available here.
Hear more from Jim Mintert here:
