Accompanying September’s long-awaited arrival is one of Colorado State University’s longest-standing traditions: Ag Week.
On Tuesday in the Sutherland Garden outside of the Lory Student Center, CSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences kicked off Ag Week with Ag Fest.
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The event was an opportunity for all students to learn a little more about agriculture and the technology behind it, interact with some lambs, sample food and pick up some swag.
Each department within the College of Agricultural Sciences was asked to come out and show off their best current endeavors.
Jonathan Cable, a graduate student studying agricultural sciences, was the coordinator for Ag Fest.
“We are an awesome department. We have students and awesome instructors — it’s just a really friendly department, and we have a bunch of opportunities.” -Sarah Wilhelm, horticulture and landscape architecture professor
“This is kind of a reimagined event this year,” Cable said. “Previously, we have done Ag (Week) on The Plaza. Our departments come out and show off the work that they are doing and their educational programming.”
Cable is excited about the change in venue, as it will allow them a touch more space for the event.
“What the Ag Fest is all about is showing off the innovations in modern agriculture, not only with our departments but also across the state in the field of agriculture,” Cable said. “This gives the entrepreneurs and newest inventions a voice and an opportunity to be on campus.”
The 21st Century Equipment booth attracted a sizable crowd with their John Deere tractor.
Neil Motley, small equipment sales manager for 21st Century Equipment throughout Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska, ran the 21st Century Equipment booth along with Isabel Drobny and Colin Feeney.
“John Deere doesn’t build themselves anymore as a tractor company; they build themselves as a technology company that builds tractors,” Motley said.
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Drobny and Feeney are both CSU alumni.
“Twenty-first Century (Equipment) supplies a lot of the equipment for the athletics department,” Drobny said. “So we wanted to showcase a tractor and some precision ag technology.”
The technology they showcased is used to help people make educated, data-based decisions on what to do with their fields. A setup from 21st Century Equipment also allows people’s tractors to run on autopilot. The focus is to provide more information so farm and field owners can save time and money.
“My grandparents grew up farming, and so I got to spend some time on their farms, but my parents moved away from it and were both technology driven,” Feeney said. “I tried to find the intermittent place between those two different things, and an agricultural business major from (CSU) sounded like the way to go.”
There is a plethora of different majors within the College of Agricultural Sciences at CSU. Sarah Wilhelm is a CSU alumna and a professor of horticulture and landscape architecture. She helped run the horticulture and landscape architecture booth at the Fest.
Wilhelm began her academic career studying natural resources but found it wasn’t the right fit for her. After taking her first horticulture class, she found herself studying for hours.
“We are an awesome department,” Wilhelm said. “We have students and awesome instructors; it’s just a really friendly department, and we have a bunch of opportunities.”
Wilhelm knows not everyone can choose a major in the department of horticulture and landscape architecture; they also offer minors in both fields of study.
“We are out here at Ag Fest getting the word out about the College of Agriculture,” Wilhelm said.
Reach Gwendolynn Riddoch at life@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.
