Purdue Day at Indiana State Fair

Friday is Purdue Day at the Indiana State Fair and that means educational exhibits all day up and down State Fair Boulevard. Purdue ag experts will analyze the USDA August crop production report at 9:30 AM in the Normandy Barn, and for the duration of the fair Purdue Extension has been in the new DuPont Food Pavilion with their exhibit To MyPlate and Beyond.

“It’s really focused on helping people understand how to eat healthy food, what a portion size looks like, and the five main food groups,” says Dr. Chuck Hibberd, the Director of Purdue Extension Service. “Of course one of our big sponsors this year with the Year of Dairy Cows is Indiana Dairy Farmers, and so certainly milk and the healthy value of milk in the diet is a key focus of our exhibit this year.”

And Mark Evans, Putnam County Extension Director likes the new approach.

“Understand that MyPlate is different than the food pyramid, but I think that it makes a lot more sense because they visualize the plate that’s in front of them and what should be on that plate and how they can eat healthy. Having a youth family nutrition person in our county for the family nutrition program that goes out to the schools and utilizes the professor popcorn curriculum, it’s really structured around this MyPlate philosophy that’s been here for about a year and a half. To me it’s just a much better conceptual aid and folks are really relating better to it than what they did the food pyramids. It’s neat to see that.”

Connie Weaver, distinguished professor and head of the Department of Nutrition Science in Purdue’s College of Health and Human Sciences is at the exhibit Friday. Her calcium and nutrition research is used to set recommendations for calcium for populations worldwide and her research was used to help set the USDA dietary guidelines that are the science behind MyPlate.

Over at Normandy Barn the Purdue experts will analyze the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s crop production report, the first yield and production forecasts for the 2012 U.S. and Indiana corn and soybean crops, for what it means to farmers, consumers and the economy.

Panelists are Shaun Casteel, Purdue Extension soybean specialist; Chris Hurt, Purdue Extension agricultural economist; Joe Kelsay, director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture; Greg Matli, Indiana deputy director of the National Agricultural Statistics Service; and Bob Nielson, Purdue Extension corn specialist. Jay Akridge, Glenn W. Sample Dean of Purdue Agriculture, will moderate discussion.[audio:https://www.hoosieragtoday.com//wp-content/uploads//2012/08/Purdue-day-at-state-fair.mp3|titles=Purdue day at state fair]Hear the full HAT interview with Hibberd and Evans:[audio:https://www.hoosieragtoday.com//wp-content/uploads//2012/08/Chuck-Hibbard-and-Mark-Evans-at-2012-St-Fair.mp3|titles=Chuck Hibbard and Mark Evans at 2012 St Fair]