UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Visitors to the Family Room building at Penn State’s Ag Progress Days can engage with hands-on exhibits and demonstrations aimed at promoting healthier habits. The activities will be coordinated by educators from Penn State Extension’s food, families and communities, and pesticide education teams.
Designed for all ages, the Family Room offers something for everyone, organizers said. The Family Room is located on Main Street between West Eight and West Ninth streets at the Ag Progress Days site at the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center at Rock Springs.
Each day, extension educators will staff exhibits, lead demonstrations and present talks focused on healthy living through food and physical activity, food safety, stress management, cancer screening, sun safety, pesticide storage and radon testing.
Highlights will include:
Food demonstrations and speaking presentations: Visitors can join Penn State Extension’s food, families and communities educators as they prepare healthy recipes, provide information on various health and wellness topics, and demonstrate safe home food preservation techniques.
Mental health and wellness in agriculture: Farming can be stressful because so many variables are out of farmers’ control — such as the weather, equipment breakdowns and the economy. Producers can become healthier and happier by learning to identify and respond in positive ways to stressors. Visitors can discover tips and resources to keep themselves and their neighbors mentally and emotionally healthy.
Health and wellness display: Educators will share information on food, nutrition and physical fitness, along with tips for chronic disease prevention and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Family well-being programs: Visitors can find ideas and resources on parenting and childcare, grandparents raising grandchildren and financial management.
Home food preservation and consumer food safety: In celebration of National Food Safety Month in September, Penn State food safety and quality educators and volunteers will provide research-based information on how to safely store and preserve foods at home.
Vector-borne disease: Penn State Extension’s vector-borne disease team focuses on diseases caused by pathogens transmitted by ticks and mosquitoes, such as Lyme disease, anaplasmosis and West Nile virus. The team will provide resources on recognizing ticks and mosquitoes and offer tips to help people protect themselves and their families, pets and livestock from vector-borne diseases.
Sun safety and skin cancer prevention: Skin cancer is the most common cancer in the U.S. One in five Americans develops skin cancer in their lifetime, and one person dies of melanoma every hour. The farming community is especially at risk given their exposure to ultraviolet light. Skin cancer can be prevented, and if caught early, it is treatable. Penn State Health dermatologists continue to focus on skin cancer education, prevention and treatment.
New exhibits for this year will include:
Mistaken Identity: Visitors to Penn State Extension’s Pesticide Education Program exhibit can learn how to properly store pesticides, including many household cleaning products, and see the importance of keeping them in their original containers.
Radon: What You Need to Know to Protect Your Family: Radon is a naturally occurring, invisible, odorless gas that comes from soil and rocks. It can build up inside homes, and long-term exposure increases the risk of lung cancer. Experts from the Penn State Cancer Institute will help visitors learn what radon is, why it matters, practical steps to reduce risk and how communities can access testing and solutions.
Sponsored by Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, Ag Progress Days is held at the Russell E. Larson Agricultural Research Center at Rock Springs, 9 miles southwest of State College on Route 45. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 11; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Aug. 12; and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 13. Admission and parking are free.
For more information, visit the Ag Progress Days website. X users can find and share information about the event by using the hashtag #agprogressdays, and the event also can be found on Facebook (@AgProgressDays).