Virtual farm planned for Exploration Place
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
Farm Bureau organizations in 21 counties in two districts in south-central Kansas are teaming up to establish an agriculture exhibit at Exploration Place in Wichita.
A total of $27,500 has been contributed. Marion County Farm Bureau donated $1 per member, or $847, toward the exhibit.
The committee designing the exhibit is chaired by John Kuszmaul, a board member of Kingman County Farm Bureau.
Kuszmaul said they hope to have the exhibit up and running by the end of the year but for sure within a year from now.
The main idea is to have a "virtual farm" in which people can have hands-on experiences with agriculture.
For example, they might be able to sit in an actual equipment cab outfitted with a computer screen. They can choose to be in a combine harvesting wheat, or in a tractor tilling ground or spraying fields. The simulated experience will include a display of the equipment controls.
Other ideas include demonstrations of soil and water conservation, grains, irrigation, and a simulated grain elevator or dairy cow.
"Farm Bureau is an advocate for agriculture," Kuszmaul said. "Some people are five generations removed from it. We're just trying to show them how it works."
According to Kuszmaul, approximately 120,000 people visit Exploration Place each year.
