Date: Fri 17-Oct-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

agriculture-Expo-Ferris

Full Text:

In Its Second Year, State Ag Expo Is Growing

(with cuts)

BY KAAREN VALENTA

When last year's Ag Expo ended, Shirley Ferris knew it had been a tremendous

success.

For after the last exhibit was dismantled and the goats, horses and other farm

animals were loaded onto trucks, the participants in the agricultural

exposition began urging her to hold another expo and, this time, make it a

two-day event.

So this year the state commissioner of agriculture is planning a two-day

extravaganza from 10 am to 5 pm on Saturday and Sunday, October 25-26, at the

State Armory in Hartford.

"The idea of an expo was conceived last year as a means of bringing to the

public a demonstration of the diversity of agriculture in the state," Mrs

Ferris said. "It was billed as a fun family event, a celebration even, of

family fun. But it has become much more than that. The expo is really a

celebration of farm families."

Last year the emphasis was on food. This year it is horticulture, she said.

"The centerpiece will be a garden developed by Imperial Nurseries with

gardening workshops available. Part of the Department of Agriculture display

will include a hands-on kids project [involving] tissue culture. Kids will

learn how it's done and then take home a sample of the results of this new

biotechnology effort that has become so important to the horticulture

industry."

Also new this year is a Legos Contest and play area. A Legos model will be on

display and children will be invited to guess the number of Legos used in the

model; prizes will be awarded. The toy Legos also will be available for

children to play with while their parents take a break from the other expo

activities.

"Farmin' Fever," the audience participation singing-dancing-learning program,

will present two shows on Saturday. On Sunday a quartet, Just In Time, will

perform.

Commissioner Ferris, whose family operates a dairy farm in Newtown, said the

expo will include 140 booths whose exhibits will demonstrate the diversity and

depth of the state's agricultural industry.

"Agriculture contributes $2 billion to the state's economy and employs more

than 13,000 people," Mrs Ferris said. "Connecticut producers quietly go

through the seasons producing $900 million worth of products -- everything

from apples to zucchini to oysters to rhododendrons to white spruce."

The state's agricultural producers will have displays, provide samples and

sell their food and agricultural products. In addition there will be

landscaped areas, educational projects and livestock displays.

"There will be entertainment for the entire family, live farm animals,

specialty food, antique farm equipment, fall harvest displays, nursery garden

displays, crafts and flowers, and working educational exhibits," Mrs Ferris

said.

The popular free pumpkin painting will be back again as will students of the

Future Farmers of America who will stroll about costumed as walking vegetables

and farm animals to entertain the children.

In the center of the hall will be a large horticultural display by Imperial

Gardens of Glastonbury, the largest grower of rhododendrons in the nation.

The Ag Expo is sponsored by the agriculture department and the Governor's

Council for Agricultural Development. The ag department's exhibit will focus

on three areas: animal population control, the export market and agricultural

technology.

"Agricultural technology -- tissue culture -- is revolutionizing the

horticultural industry," Mrs Ferris said. "The exhibit will feature a

professor from UConn who will explain the technology and pieces of the plants,

mostly lilies, grown from tissue culture will be given for children to take

home and grow."

The Connecticut Market Authority's regional market will be back with a

Victorian theme. Food vendors like The Egg & I of New Milford, Grote & Weigel,

and New England Gourmet Foods of Watertown will have booths.

"I think it's particularly appropriate that the honey mustard will be between

the roast pork sandwiches and the hot dogs," Mrs Ferris said.

This year emu, llamas and hatching chickens will join the other live farm

animals in the armory and Lego will have a play area for children.

Perhaps the most far-reaching event at the exposition will be the

presentation, culminating six years of work, of a study about the potential of

the agricultural biotechnology business in Connecticut. The study was done by

the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering (CASE), a non-government

"think tank," and the CURE (Connecticut United Research for Excellence).

"Six years ago there was legislation to create a task force to see if an

advisory board should be formed and the answer was yes," Mrs Ferris said. "So

this is the end of a long process which started well before I became

commissioner of agriculture."

Mrs Ferris, who is the vice president of the Eastern US Export Council, said

agricultural exports are a $60 billion-a-year business in the United States

"and 35 percent of this is consumer-oriented, table-ready products."

"You could almost have a cottage industry and be an exporter," she said.

"That's because the Agricultural Trade Organization (ATO) will help you place

your product overseas and help you make sure that you get paid."

Oysters, for example, are a $60 million industry in Connecticut. "We have the

highest quality and are the biggest producer in the nation," Mrs Ferris said.

"So as far flung as export seems to be for a small state like Connecticut, I

think it is a good market and vital to our industry to export."

Admission to the Ag Expo is $3 per person; children 12 and under are admitted

free. The State Armory is located near the Capitol Building off Exit 48 of

I-84. Parking is free.