COLUMBUS — The 42nd Power Show Ohio will get under way Jan. 27 at the Ohio Expo Center and show manager Dennis Alford said there will be a lot to see.

The major dealers of agricultural equipment, construction, landscaping and lawn and garden will display more than 600 brands within an area of 300,000 square feet.

“Booth sales been pretty much right in line with last year,” he said. “We’ve maybe seen a few more ag type exhibitors than in the past.”

Ag has generally done well the past year or two with high prices for grain and livestock. And, there’s more wealth in some farmer’s pockets because of new oil and gas leases.

“Our member dealers have seen some pretty big increases because of that,” he said.

Educational seminars

Alford reminds attendees that one of the farm management seminars, repeated at various times during Power Show Ohio, deals with shale gas and what farmers should do to prepare. This session, like many others, is led by Ohio State University Extension educators.

Other sessions include beekeeping, child labor laws, farm transportation laws on the road.

The equipment keeps getting more and more fuel efficient, with new ergonomic features to ensure operator comfort on a long day’s work.

“The uniqueness of this show,” Alford said, is in the variety of equipment offered and how it relates to the needs of the worker.

A trend he’s noticing is that farmers often take up a job on the side — maybe running a backhoe or selling firewood — and they need equipment to make that secondary job go better, as well.

“There’s a lot of farmers doing more than just farming anymore,” he said.

If firewood is your thing, he expects everything from firewood handling and processing equipment, on down to wood stoves and burners.

The show runs through Jan. 29 and is open from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. each day.