There’s always plenty for the 4WD owner and/or aficionado to see and do at Fieldays.
New Zealand’s most popular new vehicle buy, the turbo-diesel double cab ute, was again the focus of extraordinary interest from exhibitors and visitors alike at the 51st annual New Zealand Agricultural Fieldays event, held at Hamilton’s Mystery Creek event centre between June 12 & 15 this year.
From Holden using the event to officially launch its new Colorado ROX concept ute, to Isuzu running its large self-drive compound to Ford, Nissan, Volkswagen and pretty much everyone else offering variations on the recreational possibilities of adding a rooftop tent to the list of ‘must-have’ accessories for the modern TD/DC you could be forgiven for thinking that Fieldays is as much ‘motor’ as it is ‘farm’ show.
Primary focus
This year Fieldays 2019 was officially opened by Prime Minister the Rt. Hon. Jacinda Ardern, with a common theme from the opening ceremony the importance of our primary industry and the role Fieldays strives to play within it.
New Zealand National Fieldays Society CEO Peter Nation putting it best when he said; “We as an event take our role very seriously in staging a platform that educates and supports those within the industry while attracting opportunities for trade with international visitors.
“It is always a proud moment for us when we open the gates on opening day and we stroll through the streets to see the various agribusinesses with their finest on display and the large numbers of punters getting some valuable time off farm to keep up with the industry’s latest.”
For her part, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spoke of the strength of New Zealand’s primary industry and its importance to the people of New Zealand. She spoke of Fieldays being about celebrating and appreciating our primary industry and wished visitors another successful, innovative and inspiring Fieldays.
The day started off with visitors piling through the gates as they opened at 8.00am with the weather holding off leading to a busy first day with over 26,360 visitors.
Fieldays is based on a 114-hectare site at Mystery Creek 10 minutes from Hamilton and is the largest agricultural event in the Southern Hemisphere.