The weather wanted the 40th annual Sunbelt Ag Expo show to go perfect.
The weather wanted the 40th annual Sunbelt Ag Expo show to go perfect.
“We’ve had a great week so far. The Lord has blessed us with beautiful weather. It’s cool and breezy,” said Chip Blalock, executive director of the Sunbelt Ag Expo.
The show started in 1978 with 410 exhibitors on about 25 acres on Spence Field in Moultrie, Ga. This year, Blalock said, the show hosted 1,200 exhibitors, and 100 of them were new to the show, on about 100 acres of exhibitor space representing more than 4,000 products and services. Of the original 410 exhibitors, 23 have participated in each of the 40 years of the show.
“The success of the Sunbelt Ag Expo is built on the fact that we adhere to our main mission: To provide an environment to bring exhibitors and farmers together to learn from one another and ultimately for those farmers to purchase machinery, technology and services from those exhibitors,” he said.
Blalock said the Expo also strives to provide a family-friendly atmosphere with many exhibitors providing products and services and activities for people of all ages who come to the Expo to learn more about opportunities and benefits of the rural lifestyle.
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Sunbelt Expo attendees get a snack at the Georgia Peanut Commission building.
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Gates open Oct. 17 at the Sunbelt Ag Expo. More than 80,000 people annually attend the three-day show.
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Kicking the tires at the Sunbelt Ag Expo Oct. 18 in Moultrie, Ga.
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Tennessee was the 2017 Sunbelt Ag Expo Spotlight State, and Caty Davis, Miss Tennessee, cut the ribbon to open Tennessee’s display, along with Tennessee Commissioner of Agriculture Jai Templeton, left, and many other notable Tennesseans.
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Tim Cross, chancellor of the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, Caty Davis, Miss Tennessee, and Jai Templeton, Tennessee Commissioner of Agriculture at the Tennessee State Spotlight building for opening ceremonies of the 2017 Sunbelt Ag Expo.
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Tennessee State Spotlight building.
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Lee Gilmore, center, of Seldom Rest Farms in Tennessee, won the overall prize for the 2017 Southeast Hay Contest. Gilmore received the award from, at left, Dennis Hancock, UGA Extension forage specialist, Ash Alt, regional manager for AGCO, and, on far right, Uttam Saha, program coordinator for the UGA Feed and Environmental Water Laboratory.
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American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall and his wife, Bonnie, at the Sunbelt Ag Expo, where they participated in the Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farm of the Year banquet and the opening day luncheon, where Duvall updated the crowd on current agriculture discussions and challenges taking place in Washington.
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Southeastern Farmer of the Year state winners wait to be introduced on stage to see who will be honored with the overall recognition. Easily identified in front are Everett Williams from Georgia and Mike Bach from Kentucky.
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Southeastern Farmer of the Year state winners wait to hear who won.
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Virginia farmer Robert Mills, Jr., accepts, along with his wife, Cynthia, the 2017 Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year award.
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Virginia farmer Robert Mills, Jr., with the Apostles of Bluegrass, the band performing during the opening day lunch, about an hour before he knew he’d be this year’s Southeastern Farmer of the Year.
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The Southeastern Farmer of the Year program draws attention.
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The Sunbelt Expo hay demonstration, where a dozen or more pieces of equipment are often tested side by side at the same time, has become a large draw in the last few years.
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Checking the mower pass at the popular hay demonstration at the Sunbelt Ag Expo Oct. 18.
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A roper teaches the skill as part at the Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, located in Tifton, Ga., building.
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Watching the tractor drive-and-ride.
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