WSJM February 15, 2006 – Agriculture Service Club meeting

This is Al Gaus the Berrien County Extension Educator for fruit and ornamentals reporting from the Michigan State University Extension office in Berrien County. Today I would like to encourage you to attend the Agricultural Service Club Meetings this month. The Agricultural Service Club is open to anyone who has an interest in agriculture. Meetings are usually in the winter and cover a variety of topics. The service club will meet two times this year on February 17th and 24th—both Fridays.

The first meeting will be on the exhibit and educational program called, "World’s Largest" – The Benton Harbor Fruit Market and Southwest Michigan’s Fruit Belt. According to its website, this exhibit highlights the rich fruit-growing environment of Southwest Michigan and its significant impact on Michigan’s past, present and future. This meeting will take place at the Priscilla U. Byrns Heritage Center at 708 Market Street in Saint Joe. It will start at noon. Call our office at 944-4126 to reserve your space. The cost is $10.

The "World’s Largest" – The Benton Harbor Fruit Market and Southwest Michigan’s Fruit Belt exhibit explores a range of topics including fruit growing conditions, the Benton Harbor Fruit Market, shipping and processing, allied industries, growers, labor and culture and commemoration. The exhibit highlights collections of historical artifacts, photographs and documents, most of which were loaned by local farming families and related businesses.

The second Agriculture Service Club meeting will be a legislative update by Representative eiJohn Proos. It will be held at the Berrien County Extension office at 1737 Hillandale Rd in Benton Township. The start time is noon. The cost for this meeting is $7. Again, call our office at 944-4126 to register for this meeting.

Repeating, come to the two Agriculture Service Club meetings on Friday, February 17th at the Priscilla Byrns Heritage Center and Friday, February 24th at our office.

That is all for today, this has been Al Gaus for Michigan State University Extension in Berrien County.