Day one of the Farm Technology Days at Huntsinger Farms in Eau Claire is in the books and it was a success. Coordinators say they “conservatively estimate” that there were 16,800 – 18,200 people in attendance throughout the first day of the big event, but that doesn’t include children 12 and under. This puts them on track to meet their goal of hosting about 60,000 people in total from Tuesday to Thursday.
We met with Jeni Path and Sarah Kolk of Silver Spring Foods, which is a part of the host farm Huntsinger Farms, as well as the now, 74th Alice in Dairyland, Julia Nunes. Path is the Marketing Manager for Silver Spring and Kolk is a Research Scientist with the company who deals with horseradish on a daily basis since it plays such a huge role in the farm.
“As far as the planning process goes for Farm Technology Days, this is usually something that’s a three-year process, but obviously due to COVID and the pandemic, we had to push it back a year,” Path said. Not to mention that it takes hundreds of volunteers to pull something like this off. For example, on day one alone there were 620 people on the grounds helping to make everything happen. “It’s really something that’s all hands on deck within the community,” she explained.
Something that makes this farm and business stand out from past hosts is that Silver Spring Foods is the world’s largest grower and processor of horseradish. “We produce about seven million pounds each year,” Research Scientist Kolk said. “We sell a lot on the East Coast, California, really all over the United States. Some even makes it out of the country.”
As for Julia Nunes, the 74th Alice in Dairyland, having Eau Claire host this year’s event hits home for her because she grew up on a dairy in Chippewa Falls about 20 minutes from Huntsinger Farms. “I haven’t been to Farm Tech Days since I was really young, like six years old,” said Nunes.
“At Farm Tech Days you’ll find everything from exhibits on how to grow some of the major crops that we have here in Wisconsin to old tractors, new tractors, new technology…so it’s the perfect opportunity for anyone to come, involved in agriculture or not.” Nunes mentioned how we all have a connection to agriculture no matter what, so this event is a great learning opportunity for everybody.
Farm Technology Days runs from July 20th – 22nd at Huntsinger Farms in Eau Claire. Clark County will host the 2022 Farm Tech Days at Roehl Acres & Rustic Occasions in Loyal, WI July 12th – 14th.
You can listen to the full interview with Jeni Path, Sarah Kolk, and Julia Nunes on our podcast.
