Decatur Farm Expo Scraps Field Demonstrations

This year's Farm Progress Show will be missing a key ingredient: field demonstrations.

The Herald & Review reports summer's unseasonably cool weather delayed corn that was planted for the show in mid-May. That means that there won't be demonstrations showing how the latest equipment performs at harvest.

Thousands of people attend the event, which is billed as the nation's largest outdoor farm show. They follow the machinery to judge how it performs in the field.

Marc Padrutt is one of the host farmers. He says he's disappointed, but realizes that harvesting the demo crop early won't offer a realistic demonstration.

Organizers say the 60-year-old event has had to cancel field demonstrations before because of wet conditions, but never because the crop wasn't ready.

The show starts Tuesday in Decatur.