By SHELLY STRAUTZ-SPRINGBORN
Michigan Correspondent

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Science will come to life in the Michigan State University College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) tent at this year’s Ag Expo.

The CANR tent will host the first ever state-level competition of the Arthur Berkey Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources Science Fair. Activities under this year’s big top follow the theme “The Science of Agriculture and Natural Resources.”

Exhibits, educational sessions and activities will show how CANR programs – including MSU extension and the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station – feature excellence in science.

The science fair kicks off the opening day of Ag Expo, with contest presentations and judging beginning at 9 a.m. on July 20. The concept is the same as a typical science fair, but all the topics – zoology, botany, environment, engineering and biochemistry/microbiology – relate to research areas in agriculture and natural resources.

“The goal of the fair is to stimulate student interests with regard to the scientific process both in and out of the classroom,” said Michael Everett, the fair’s organizer and a specialist in the Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies (CARRS).

The science fair is also aimed at providing a venue for 4-H and FFA members to highlight projects that will help raise awareness about the importance of food and natural resources systems in Michigan. Students are expected to be on hand all day to explain their projects, and the projects will be featured throughout Ag Expo in the CANR Tent.

Organizers will use the National FFA Agriscience protocol as the basis for the science fair. Ten presentations selected from local chapter fairs will compete, and six of those will potentially move on to the national FFA competition in October. Awards will be presented to the top three places in Divisions I-IV for all five areas, and monetary awards will be presented to each individual or team.
CANR Tent Coordinator Eileen Gianiodis said the science theme will carry through the entire tent this year.

“MSU’s College of Agriculture and Natural Resources offers educational programs that rely on sciences as their basis,” she said. “In this year’s college tent, we showcase those programs so that participants realize just how important majors in our college are to life on our planet.”

An educational stage in the college tent will be featured again this year. A wind energy presentation will be at 10 a.m. each day and a session on succession planning will be at 1 p.m. each day. Other sessions will include presentations on hoop houses and gardening tips.

The MSU Dairy Store will offer free ice cream, including popular flavors such as “4-H Forever” and “Sesquicentennial Swirl.” Visitors are asked to make a donation, with all proceeds in support of the CANR Alumni Scholarship Fund.

Information about career options related to agriculture and natural resources will be available to visitors, who may also speak with representatives from the college’s undergraduate programs office and the CANR Alumni Assoc.

Visitors can also stop by the Ask a Master Gardner booth and ask questions and have their problematic plants examined and diagnosed by a Master Gardener or other horticulture expert.
Although not located in the college tent this year, the MSU Bulletin Office will offer many of its popular publications free or for sale, some at show-discount rates.

Ag Expo director Ruth Hohl Borger is pleased with this year’s science theme. “There’s much, much more to agriculture than meets the eye,” she said. “Science plays a fundamental role in any program of study that our students major in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

“Through this fair and the other exhibits in the CANR tent, our goal is to present the scientific foundation of agriculture and natural resources at MSU.”