Cmu Agricultural Fair

[T_Dog]

The CMU Agricultural Fair is going on where research projects are presented and commercial vendors show their wares from seeds to tractors. It is rather uncrowded this year and the plant sale is better than ever. I bought several bird's nest ferns for under ten baht each and the orchid sales booths are numerous as well. There are several very interesting project booths. Gates open around 9 AM.

The location is inside the first CMU gate on Suthep Road that is just west (toward the mountain) of Canal Road. Parking on Suthep Road might be difficult but worth a try. My only dismay with the show this year is how loud some of the many commercial vendor's speakers are. It is downright painful to walk by them, and in some areas, 3 or 4 are trying to drown each other out. Ear plugs might be advised. Even with the constant noise, it is still well worth a long visit.

[gotlost]

Excellent advertisement of the fair. CMU should have an great turn out.

[Tywais]

More information here > The 6th Annual Northern Agricultural Fair 2009 - Chiang Mai University

[T_Dog]

More information here > The 6th Annual Northern Agricultural Fair 2009 - Chiang Mai University

Tywais... Nice summary, and even in English. Thanks for passing it along.

[elektrified]

Went there today... Well that was disappointing to say the least. Perhaps 75% food for sale and 25% anything related to agriculture.

[vagabond48]

Went there today... Well that was disappointing to say the least. Perhaps 75% food for sale and 25% anything related to agriculture.

Did you not go the large garden/agricultural area way past the food stalls where you can see lots of beautiful displays of growing veggies and flowers. Just in case you haven't, you keep walking until you go past the many tractor displays. I must admit it was better 2 years ago.

[elektrified]

Went there today... Well that was disappointing to say the least. Perhaps 75% food for sale and 25% anything related to agriculture.

Did you not go the large garden/agricultural area way past the food stalls where you can see lots of beautiful displays of growing veggies and flowers. Just in case you haven't, you keep walking until you go past the many tractor displays. I must admit it was better 2 years ago.

Yes I went by there. That part was O.K. but I was expecting more. Actually it looked as though a lot of that area especially the flowers was already torn down which is funny because the festival is supposed to run for 3 more days.

[jaideeguy]

Elek......agree with you that it was mostly same same with all the food vendors, used clothing and the usual junk. Plant section seemed smaller and most of the other part of the fair was dedicated to Thai Agribusiness.......but it was still fun, especially watching all the pretty 'penguins' walking around in their short, tight skirts.

I was hoping to see more animal displays, home gardening and hydroponics displays. Maybe we missed something as we just viewed the corner section. Did we miss anything by not taking the tram ride??

[T_Dog]

Went there today... Well that was disappointing to say the least. Perhaps 75% food for sale and 25% anything related to agriculture.

Golly, I went back for a second time yesterday as I didn't see it all the first day. Did you walk all the way into the actual Royal Project and university research exhibition areas? I think the food was about 5% of the whole thing. The Thais are certainly the worlds foremost agricultural experts. Still trying to figure out what the buffalo hybrid was in the animal exhibit area. Here are some pics:

[elektrified]

Elek......agree with you that it was mostly same same with all the food vendors, used clothing and the usual junk. Plant section seemed smaller and most of the other part of the fair was dedicated to Thai Agribusiness.......but it was still fun, especially watching all the pretty 'penguins' walking around in their short, tight skirts.

I was hoping to see more animal displays, home gardening and hydroponics displays. Maybe we missed something as we just viewed the corner section. Did we miss anything by not taking the tram ride??

I don't know if we missed anything by not taking the tram jaideeguy. I don't think so. I drove around quite a bit looking, and asked some students who all said "this is it". So I think we covered it all. I agree, I still had fun watching the pretty penguins as well.

Hopefully the Mae Jo Festival will be like it was last year with so much to see (if it is really happening this year - who knows)!

[NancyL]

Hubby and I went today, had a great time and bought some plants. You really need to get on that tram as soon as you arrive to get an overview of the scope of the fair. It's much, much more than the plant and food vendors.

We've been involved in flower shows in our former life and most are built by sticking potted plants into piles of mulch a few days before the event to create instant gardens. At this fair, it was obvious the plants in the University demo plots had been there for quite a while and all the growing was timed for everything to look great for this event. Plus, everything was well-labeled, at least if you read Thai! Some labels were in English and the students were eager to start talking with us about their plants and to practice their English, I suspect.

Even though the last day of the fair is tomorrow, very little looked tired or bloomed out. Hurry out there tomorrow! The event is free and the plants and food are very reasonably priced.

Now if someone would reply to my question about transportation to Royal Flora in another post, we'll be there this weekend.