The University of Missouri’s College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources (CAFNR) will host its annual CAFNR Showcase at South Farm on Saturday, Sept. 26.

The free, family-friendly event brings a full day of fun activities and hands-on educational opportunities to mid-Missouri each fall.

Hosted at South Farm — a part of CAFNR’s Central Missouri Research, Extension and Education Center (CM-REEC) — CAFNR Showcase will give attendees the opportunity to explore an active research and teaching farm and see the work conducted there firsthand.

CAFNR faculty, staff and students, as well as external partners, will man dozens of booths around the farm offering a variety of hands-on, educational activities. Favorites from past showcases include cockroach races, a rainfall simulator, ice cream tasting, a foal parade, painting with corn-based pigments, guess-the-flavor, a robotics demonstration and more.

Children 12 and under can earn a free pumpkin by visiting key stations throughout the event via the popular “Showcase Passport.”

Attendees will also get to navigate a sunflower maze and meet adult and baby animals up close.

“This is such an exciting time of the year for us. We’re passionate about agriculture, and getting to open South Farm to the public and share the work we do is an incredible privilege,” said CM-REEC Director Dusty Walter.

South Farm is located at 3600 East New Haven Road in Columbia, Missouri. This year’s CAFNR Showcase will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event is open to the public, and no registration is required. Food and beverages will be available for purchase from vendors and food trucks.

The CM-REEC is a part of the Missouri Agricultural Experiment Station and is composed of 14 different properties covering approximately 7,200 acres in central Missouri. Research and education efforts at these sites are tailored to their locations and the interests of local producers, covering natural resources conservation, livestock management, agroforestry, specialty crops and more.

South Farm is the second largest of these sites. The 1,452-acre research farm serves as an outdoor classroom for CAFNR students and houses several key services and operations, including the Ag Lime Control Service, Beef Research and Teaching Farm, Equine Teaching Facility, Feed Mill, Missouri Foundation Seed and Swine Research and Teaching Farm.