KUTZTOWN, Pa. — The Rodale Institute, a major player in organic farming research and education, is throwing wide the gates to its 386-acre research farm for its annual Field Day next week.
- The Rodale Institute is hosting its annual Field Day
- From 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Friday, July 21, the Rodale headquarters in Kutztown will be open to the public
- It costs $25 to tour the 386-acre research farm
From 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Friday, July 21, the Rodale Institute’s headquarters at 611 Siegfriedale Road in Kutztown will be open to the public for a $25 admission fee.
Maria Pop, Rodale’s director of education, said there is plenty to see and do.
“We have stations for our major research projects," Pop said. "The research manager, the research director would be at that station, also technicians and interns, and they would provide information to everyone stopping at the station. We have up to 20 stations around the farm.
“And people can walk or they can take one of our tractor-pulled wagons that operate on a kind of hop-on, hop-off model. And people move around the whole day from station to station learning about everything that we do here.”
Two of the main research projects are the farming systems trial and the vegetable systems trial.
According to Pop, the farming systems trial “compares side-by-side organic with conventional or chemical-based [farming].” The project has been in progress for over 40 years.
“I would say everyone has to come at least once in their lifetime.”Maria Pop, director of education at the Rodale Institute
The vegetable systems trial is younger, established in 2016.
“It's a demonstration of management practices in cropping systems that we use for vegetables," Pop said, "… to show people how these management practices can impact the soil health on a farm.”
Some of the other research projects include compost production, cover cropping, apple orchards, grafted tomatoes, pastured hogs, no-till farming practices, industrial hemp growing and beekeeping.
The Rodale Institute will also have booths from over 20 partners and exhibitors, like the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Pasa Sustainable Agriculture and Pennsylvania Certified Organic, among others.
In addition, there will be food trucks serving organic-grown meals.
Says Pop, “I would say everyone has to come at least once in their lifetime.”
