| Fieldays has come and gone, and once more we’re left with a warm fuzzy feeling after the Southern Hemisphere’s biggest agricultural show turned out a huge success. The four-day event at Mystery Creek Events Centre between Hamilton and Cambridge absolutely hummed this year, with 117,495 visitors – 4 percent down on last year, but that was no big deal according to Fieldays general manager Barry Quayle. “Quality visitors versus quantity remain the true indicator of the success of an event. Value to the exhibitor continues to be our priority; getting down to business is what we do best at Fieldays,” he said. Farmers, lifestylers and townies turned out for the country’s biggest rural trade show. With more than 1,000 exhibitors and demonstrations on the 40 hectare event space there was no shortage of new products and technologies to discover. As usual the motor industry was out in force, with special interest being shown in the newly facelifted Great Wall Motors V240, Volkswagen’s new Amarok, the next generation Ford Ranger and Mazda BT-50 – out later this year - and next year’s Nissan Navara ST-X packed with 3-litre V6 power. All of them are 4WD double cab utes. We also saw a tricked-up version of the Maruchi Suzuki bubbed Mudzilla, an Indian-made vehicle based on the old Suzuki SJ140 as a really viable off-seal alternative to an ATV for farm operations, as well as an equally modified SsangYong Actyon Sport ute that gives the vehicle new legs (see also p36). With an excellent payout from Fontera many of the visitors had money burning holes in their pockets, and there were lots of really good deals to be had. As usual we enjoyed the NZLandleasing.co.nz tractor pull competition, with winners of the Waikato regional tractor pull final announced: Jakes Steyn took first place, followed by Jason Weenick and Shane Smith. Another announcement at Fieldays was that ANZ revealed it will offer an agricultural business the chance to have an expenses-paid place on its exporter tour to Vietnam next year. The Premier Feature for the next National Fieldays was also unveiled to set the stage for 2012. Entitled the “Changing face of farming”, the feature will address the changing land ownership model in New Zealand and aims to provide a great platform for discussion. For the past two years, the Premier Feature at Fieldays has focused on providing hands-on knowledge and tools for use by managers and staff on the farm. In 2012, the theme is more about highlighting what’s happening in the big picture throughout New Zealand’s agricultural industry. |
Meanwhile international business connections made at last year’s Fieldays have resulted in New Zealand companies launching a range of rural products into markets such as Germany, the US and Central America within the past 12 months. |
