NEW ULM – Nearly 70 ag vendors and exhibits filled the New Ulm Civic Center Friday for the 43rd annual Farm-City Hub Club Farm Show.

Farm City Hub Club secretary Ruth Klossner said there was a pretty steady crowd of visitors to show when it opened in early afternoon that continued throughout the day.

One of the first booths visitors see entering the Farm Show belongs to 2B Continued, a nonprofit that works to increase awareness of suicide prevention, mental health & wellness through advocacy, education and outreach. Amy Karlson was running the booth at the Farm Show. She said 2B Continued attended the Farm show this year to bring awareness to mental health issues facing the agriculture community.

Karlson said farmers face a lot of unique pressures. The booth featured pamphlets on coping with farm and rural stress.

Klossner said this year, Hub Club members Jeff and Sue Brandes were participating in 2B Continued’s Dancing Like the Stars Competition. By competing in the dance competition, the Brandes hope to bring conversation about mental health and farming out into the open and help reduce the stigma of asking for help.

The Farm Show is often a chance to see the latest in farming equipment and innovations. At the Mountain View Ag booth, Britton Pankratz was busy showing visitors an ag-spraying drone. These quad-copter drones are equipped to fly over farm fields with spray material, serving as a replacement for crop dusters.

Pankratz said he has been in the ag drone business for 12 years, but it’s only in the last few years that spray drones have come on the market. He said the drones are eye catching, but the drones are quickly becoming common place on farms.

Pankratz said Mountain View Ag both sells drones and drone flying services to customers. He said it is about 50-50 over whether the farmer will hire drone service or buy a drone out right.

The sprayer drones are popular with the younger farmers between 25-40 who are still farming with their father.

“it is is a way to come back to the farm without having a second income,” Pankratz said.

The technology has also improved to make piloting the vehicles easier.

“We say that if you can operate a computer decently, you can probably operate the drone,” Pankratz said.

From the latest tech to one of the oldest professions, Yotes to Coats Tannery of Nicollet operated a booth at the Farm Show. Owner Tyler Thompson said Yotes to Coats was one of only three full-scale tanneries in the state. The business made fur products from coyotes, fox, raccoon, otter and bison.

He said at the home show one of the most popular items they sold was the animal tail key chains, but the new fur purses were also popular.

On the opposite end of the Civic Center, visitors could see live animal exhibits including goats, ducks, chicks and a young calf courtesy of the New Ulm Chapter of Future Farmers of America.

Calleigh Frederickson with the Milford 4H Club was running an Easter themed pop-up photograph studio. Visitors could pose for photos with live rabbits and baby chicks.

For $25, individuals could get three poses with the animals. All proceeds will go back to the Milford 4H Club.

Frederickson said this was the third year she has hosted the rabbit photography booth, and it is fairly popular. The rabbits and the chick are fairly docile and make for fun holiday portraits.

Frederickson said she would continue taking photos both days of the Farm Show.

The Farm Show will continue at the Civic Center from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.