Meet the Farmer's Food You Eat and Flowers You Admire at the Voice of the Farmers Exhibit

Getting consumers better acquainted to the food they eat, that's grown by farmers in New York State is the idea behind a program new to the New York State Fair. This is the first State Fair landing place for a Voice of the Farmer exhibition.

Several raised beds dot a grassy patch of land; some bright orange nasturtiums here, yellow marigolds there and beans, corn and squash sharing another bed. What does state Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball want you to do as you wander around the plants?

"Touch it, smell it, ask questions about it most importantly," Ball said.

Kathleen Copeletti of the Cornell Cooperative Extension is one of the volunteers who will be able to talk to fair visitors about what they see and take some of what they learn, home.

"Container gardening is very important right now," Copeletti said. "Not everybody has a yard, but they want to grow tomatoes in a five gallon container on their patio. We'll show them how to do it properly."

Source: wrvo.org

Photo Credit: gettyimages-nes