Saturday’s 2nd Annual Farm Day event proved once and for all that farming has changed drastically. American ingenuity and technology is bringing farming to a new level of efficiency in order to compete in the global economy. It isn’t your grandfather’s farm anymore. Grandfather probably drove his tractor up and down the rows of his carefully planted crops, straining to navigate the vehicle in a straight line. In the heat of the summer perspiration would stream down his face, which he wiped with the traditional red bandana. Since the tractor was open, he wore a straw hat and squinted his eyes against the bright sunlight. Not today. The new, air-conditioned Case tractors on display at Farm Day have wide windows front, sides and back to provide full visibility. Each tractor has double tires to increase traction. They are also automated, connected by a radio to a central station and guided by a GPS device that shows a virtual field on the computerized screen, indicating a tree or fence in the tractor’s path. Because of the automation and the ability to follow crop rows effortlessly, a five percent increase in plants per unit area is attained, according to Pedro Andrade, who works at the University of Arizona’s Maricopa Agriculture Center with mechanized implements to increase farming efficiency. Andrade explained new farming technology has a direct relationship to competition in the world markets. “Other countries have cheaper labor work forces, so the U.S. has to create technology to increase productivity with greater efficiency,” he said.  |
Farm Day also offered information and displays on conserving and using water efficiently, the environment, all types of bugs and germs. One of the most popular booths allowed children to spray their hands with a substance called Glo Germ. Each child placed their hands in a box lit with ultraviolet light to see the “glowing” germs. Then it was off to the hand washing station to get rid of them; if anyone wanted to check, they could try the spray and light box again. Other family-oriented activities included weather and environment games, mashing strawberries and adding alcohol to show the berries’ DNA, face painting, balloon animals and bug making and painting. All types of real bugs, good and bad, were also on display. The cricket-spitting contest was another crowd pleaser with Maricopa Mayor Anthony Smith competing for the second year in a row. The youngest contestant, age 3, got a cricket leg stuck to his bottom lip; undaunted, he put it back in his mouth and spit it about a foot. That distance was the winning one for him as the only competitor in his age group. Crickets, according to one of the MAC staff members, were purchased from a grower and pre-sanitized, “clean” crickets. Farm Day was an opportunity to see new farming methods and equipment while having some educational, family fun. (Click on the < and > under the photo to see more of Farm Day) Photos by Joyce Hollis |