By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – McLean County’s farming history is as rich as its soil and local farmers are being asked to contribute to a new historical exhibit.

The McLean County Museum of History is leading a discussion at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the McLean County Farm Bureau auditorium, 2422 Westgate Drive, Bloomington,  to collect photos, old farm tools and most of all, stories.

“What we’ve come up with could fill this (museum),” museum curator Susan Hartzold said. “McLean County’s agricultural history is so rich we are going to have to pick and choose what we decide to use and what stories we tell because of limited space.”

Challenges, Choices, & Change: Farming in the Great Corn Belt is set to open in March of 2017.

Hartzold said the exhibit will focus on the evolution of farming in the 20th century, but will go as far back as the native farmers of the early 19th century.

The exhibit will depict the introduction of mechanized farm equipment and new crops such as soybeans which farmers in Illinois didn’t start growing until 1919.

Hartzold said the goal is to create an interactive exhibit.

“We’ll be using touch screens so people might be able to explore a variety of images or maps that illustrate the changing landscape that’s happened in McLean County,” Hartzold said.

Participants are encouraged to bring photos of equipment, tools and farming activities, as well as personal stories of on-farm challenges and choices.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].