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Almost Ag Day

Tuesday, February 21, 2023
Photo by JARED JERNAGAN, Editor
In recognition of “the oldest industry in the county,” commissioners Tom Helmer (seated left) and Rick Woodall proclaim Saturday, March 11 as Ag Day in Putnam County, accompanied by Ag Day board member Heather Poynter. The annual tradition will kick off at the Putnam County Fairgrounds Community Building with the Ag Day breakfast – which is still only $1 – followed by the annual Farmer of the Year and Friend of the Farmer awards. The program will be presented by North Putnam graduate Seth Ariens, who is serving as Indiana FFA president for 2022-23. Following the program, the festivities will continue with the Mini Farm Fest, which will conclude at noon. The proclamation noted that agriculture covers 197,619 of a total of 307,453 acres and contributes at least $111,617,000 to the Putnam County economy.
Banner Graphic/JARED JERNAGAN

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  • Congratulations to the Ag Day committee for your hard work in bringing a day of celebration of the contributions of Agriculture to Putnam Co. and the citizens of the world.

    My memory is a little foggy as to the exact year a group of individuals conceived the idea of having a community breakfast to celebrate agriculture in Putnam Co. I do know it was in the 1970's as I was a young professional working in Greencastle. The charter group included Ed Neary and George Murphey. I know there were others, but again my memory as to who they were is not as it should be. The organizing group was a collection of individuals that worked in jobs that were a service to agriculture, but not in retail sales. The group met monthly to plan ways that they could work together for the greater good of the agricultural community. The group was called the Putnam Co. Ag Service Group.

    Long ago, as work demanded more of everyone's time, the group quit meeting each month. With many years of experience preparing the breakfast, meeting once/year to be sure everyone knew their responsibility was all that was necessary. While I do not have first hand knowledge, I assume most of the planning today is accomplished by e-mail.

    Ed Neary served as master of ceremonies for the first few years. When he left Greencastle in 1982 to assume a new position with the Farm Credit Banks in Louisville, Ken Carrington assumed the role of coordinator of the breakfast and MC. He continues in that role today. Ken does a great job. He solicits contributions of many food items from many generous donors and sees to it that all of the supplies are at the fairgrounds on the morning of the breakfast.

    The Ag Day celebration is now much larger than just a breakfast and is nearing 50 years old. With the hard work of the committee that makes this celebration happen each March, you can still get a good breakfast of sausage and pancakes for $1.00!

    If you have the opportunity, join the group on March 11,2023 at the Putnam County Fairgrounds.

    -- Posted by rawinger on Tue, Feb 21, 2023, at 8:05 AM

  • a great day. I know non hungry people don't care about AG but this can really help educate the people who don't understand food production.

    Interesting note, I saw a very large survey out of NYC done in 2021- 21-35 year olds, 20,000 respondents- 69% thought hamburger came from ham!!! 17% thought chocolate milk came from brown cows!! Good news- 97% thought watermelon should be seedless. 74% thought oranges should peel easily! 31% would try a purple carrot which is available now

    -- Posted by beg on Tue, Feb 21, 2023, at 2:59 PM
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