The Midwest Mechanical Weed Control Field Day is the Midwest’s largest field day devoted to vegetable growers and mechanical weed control. Last year’s event was organized by Michigan State University and hosted at the school’s research farm in Lansing, Michigan. Due to overwhelming interest registration filled and farmers had to be turned away in order to comply with fire code. One hundred and thirty farmers attended from states all over the Midwest and Canada.
This year’s Midwest Mechanical Weed Control field day, to be held from 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Sept. 26, in Atlanta, Illinois is being planned by Sam Hitchcock Tilton, an organizer of last year’s event and mechanical weed control professional, Hans Bishop, a vegetable farmer at PrariErth Farm and MOSES farmer of the year who has been a leader in modern weeding tools, and The Land Connection, an Illinois organization that promotes farmer training and land stewardship.
The field day is hosted by PrariErth farm in Atlanta, Illinois, which is centrally located in Illinois. Five cities of 100,000 people or more are within a 90-minute drive, St. Louis and Chicago are within 2 hours, and Madison, Wisconsin is within three hours.
The Land Connection has an experienced staff that routinely organizes, promotes and hosts farmer field days. The Midwest Mechanical Weed Control Field Day is the best opportunity for farmers to learn about weeding tools and allied equipment through keynote speakers, talking with other farmers and company representatives, and seeing field demonstrations.