Midwest Mechanical Weed Control Field Day Returns! 
Last year this event was held in Wooster, OH and it was a great success, with over 150 farmers in attendance. This year the event has rotated to West Lafayette, IN, home of Purdue University if you care to attend. A full day of weeding tool demonstrations, trade show, and cultivation education for both vegetables and row crops will be on display.
Champaign, IL. In partnership with Purdue University, this year’s Midwest Mechanical Weed Control Field Day will take place on Wednesday, September 11 at Purdue University’s Horticulture research station.
At the morning Expo you can see weeding tools and speak with company reps from manufacturers in the US, Europe, and Japan, and meet the farmers in attendance from all over the region. At the morning education sessions, learn from experienced farmers and university weed scientists from surrounding states. ‘Weed control on the tillage spectrum’ will make the connection between tillage and weed management – with demos and talks on tarping for vegetables and plowing down cover crops with residue management in mind.
A walk-behind tractor exhibition – ‘Walk-Behind Alley’ – features demonstrations of walk-behind tractors and hand tools. A wide variety of cultivators, hand tools, and the paperpot transplanting system will be shown. You can also visit the trade show exhibit booths to meet other supply companies, like equipment dealers for all manner of machinery, seed, tools, fertilizers, and soils.
At noon, the field day will break for lunch – an opportunity for farmers to meet and network, or continue looking at trade show equipment and speaking with exhibitors. In the afternoon farmers follow the tractors out to the demonstration field, where corn, beets, and brassicas have been planted especially for the demonstrations. Many 3-point, camera-guided, autonomous, and belly-mounted cultivators and cultivating tractors will be demonstrated in the field and explained by manufacturers. These demonstrations will show how the machines should be mounted and properly adjusted according to crop and soil conditions, and will help farmers visualize how the implements can work on their own farms.
Row-crop tools in demonstration include precision-controlled tine-weeders and several types of camera-guided cultivators with finger weeders and all manner of other tooling – see all types of knives, hilling discs, etc. Demonstrations will be held in 4’’ corn.
Vegetable weeding tools include cultivating tractors past and present, a variety of belly-mounted and rear-mounted steerable tools, and cultivators from Japan!
Registration for this full-day of learning and networking on mechanical weed control is just $75. Registration includes lunch and all the machinery demos you can handle. It is recommended that everyone register early as each year space runs out.
This event is perfect for farmers and ag advisors who want to: see a particular weeding tool before buying it, learn how to adjust cultivators, see what is new in cultivation, or learn from other farmers.
Here is the general information for the event:
When: Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Where: Purdue University – MEIGS Horticultural Research Farm 9101 S 100 E Lafayette, IN 47909
How Much: $75 (includes lunch)
Register online at: https://thelandconnection.regfox.com/2024-midwest-mechanical-weed-control-field-day
*Walk-in registration will be available, but lunch and conference amenities are not guaranteed.
Field Day webpage: https://www.thelandconnection.org/event/2024-mmwcfd/
For more info on the event or to register by phone, contact Crystal at crystal@thelandconnection.org or (217) 840-2128.
Inquiries for interviews on radio, print, and beyond are welcomed – Please reach out to Sam Oschwald Tilton, glacialdrift@protonmail.com, or 414-213-5337
Interested in exhibiting your products and connecting with farmers at the field day? Please contact us