NEW HAVEN — The Addison County Fair and Field Days Crop Contest is just around the corner, and the UVM Extension-Champlain Valley Crop, Soil & Pasture Team is reminding farmers to enter their ag products. Field Days was started more than 75 years ago to bolster agriculture in this part of Vermont, and it still very much an ag-related show.

The judging is done in three classes — Field crops, Forage and Grains — across 19 categories. The categories include a variety of whole plants, silage crops, dry hay and grain crops. If you grow these plants, you may have a category in which you can enter the contest: corn, soybeans, wheat, barley, oats, rye, alfalfa, clover, buckwheat and oilseed.

Enter at the fairgrounds in New Haven before noon on Monday, Aug. 3, at the north end of the 4-H Exhibit Building.

Samples will be judged on:

• Freedom from plant defects and contamination.

• Yield and crop quality potential.

• Proper maturity at harvest for storage.

• Proper moister content for storage.

• Conformity of size and uniformity.

Prizes run from $5 for a white ribbon to $50 for Best in Show.

Karen Gallott in the Middlebury UVM Extension office can answer your questions if you reach out to her at 802-656-7540 or at [email protected].