World Ag Expo’s 45th year brought out an estimated 100,000 visitors for its Feb. 14-16 run. Held at the International Agri-Center in Tulare, Calif., it’s billed as the world’s largest annual farm equipment show.

Case IH displays its shiny red tractors, combines and sprayers at one of World Ag Expo’s most visible spots on South Street. The company promoted its technology for meeting tough Tier 4A standards.

Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich tours World Ag Expo Feb. 14, speaking briefly to a crowd of Expo visitors and news media at the CASE tractor exhibit on the show’s sprawling grounds. Gingrich was the only presidential candidate to appear at this year’s international farm show.

California dairy producer Rob Van Grouw (right) holds his second-place plaque for the Corn Silage non-BMR category of the 2012 World Ag Expo Forage Challenge, presented by Mycogen Seeds. Van Grouw also took home a $2,000 check. A total of $18,000 in prizes from Lallemand Animal Nutrition was awarded to winners. Finalists were chosen from 77 entries from nine western states. With Van Grouw is his dairy manager, Jose Campos.

Dean Morrell of AGCO-Hesston fielded strong interest in the company’s new WR Series self-propelled Windrower, just out this year. Morrell says no other windrower allows the cutting and conditioning of quality hay faster or more efficiently.

Farm machinery and dairy cows go hand in hand in Tulare, Calif., site of World Ag Expo. Tulare County is not only the second most productive agricultural county in the U.S. but also the nation’s No. 1 milk-producing county.

South Dakota Agriculture Secretary Walt Bones (left), Gov. Dennis Daugaard (center) and dairy development specialist David Skaggs attend World Ag Expo Feb. 15. They were at the California farm show with one goal: to attract more dairies to their state.

Day two of the 2012 World Ag Expo started with gray skies and much-needed rain, and ended with blue skies. In between, exhibitors enjoyed encouraging sales and strong attendance.

Dallin Staheli shows off the award his family’s Staheli West Inc. won in World Ag Expo’s 2012 Top 10 New Products event. The Utah-based company won for its new DewPoint 6110, a steam generation and injection system that allows hay growers to bale with steam.

Rob Wood (left) of CropTrak/Scan Control explains how the company’s new iPad app lets farmers take their office to the field. The app was named one of World Ag Expo’s 2012 Top 10 New Products.

Jerold Vincent of Colorado-based EnviroTech Services, Inc. holds a vial of the company’s award-winning Durablend. Another winner of World Ag Expo’s 2012 Top 10 New Products, Durablend uses polymer-enhanced chlorides to improve control of road dust.

The 2013 World Ag Expo will be held Feb 12-14 at the International Agri-Center in Tulare, Calif.