The 2008 Ag Experience, scheduled to occur July 18, will offer participants a firsthand look at several agricultural businesses and farming operations in Clay County.

Hosted by members of the Spencer Chamber of Commerce Ag Committee throughout the day's packed agenda of events, tour attendees are scheduled to leave the Clay County fairgrounds at 11 a.m. on chartered buses.

"The goal of this is to get some education out to everyone so that we realize what agriculture is in Clay County, and the diversity of it, as well as some of the technology, marketing and safety factors farmers have to go through to produce their products," said Becky Fear, the Spencer Chamber of Commerce program director and Ag Committee member.

Attendees will witness a cattle operation on a Clay County Christensen farm. They'll also be introduced to 300 head of nannies and nine Boer billy goats on Abel Acres.

Greg and Lola Wood's Bittersweet Angus cow-calf business near Greenfield will be another stop on the day's tour.

Grain and its production will take center stage at the Clay County Growers Association corn and soybean plot along U.S. Highway 71.

Tour members will stop for a lunch provided and grilled by the Clay County Cattlemen.

CommStock Investments, a commodity brokerage and market research and analysis business in Royal, and Spencer Ag Center, a veterinarian, supply and feed store in Spencer, will be among the agricultural businesses featured throughout the day's planned activities.

In Rossie, tour participants will see firsthand how an elevator scale works at the Rossie Feed and Grain Company Elevator. They'll also examine the different types of sprayers used by farmers and farm workers in their operations at Binder Spraying.

Tours of the Greenville Locker will be offered. Participants will also learn about construction occurring at Green Plains Grain Company in Greenville, which is designed to work in collaboration with the Green Plains Renewable Energy ethanol plant in Superior and local producers to create new opportunities in the ethanol value chain.

* Reservations are required. To reserve a spot on one of the buses being chartered, call the Spencer Chamber of Commerce at 262-5680. Calls will be taken until noon July 14 or until all three buses are filled.