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Fieldays chief executive Peter Nation says it's great to have Fieldays back for 2021.
After a hiatus of two years, National Fieldays opened to a grey foggy day in the Waikato, last Wednesday.
It's likely that the mood would have been buoyant given this year's dairy payout and a strong prediction for the new season just underway.
Whether that turns into business being written might be a different matter, given that many machinery distributors are reporting a market that is already ahead of last season by up to 20%, leading to issues of limited supply before the end of the year.
In many cases, these supply issues were predicted earlier in the year, with strong marketing campaigns bringing orders forward.
Fieldays chief executive Peter Nation emphasised the importance of the event in terms of rural folk reconnecting after been through the isolation created by Covid. He also noted that the event had seen a large number of new exhibitors taking part and pushing overall numbers to beyond 1000.
"It's great to be back - 2020 was a difficult year for us, as our revenue stream literally dried up overnigh, so it's been fingers and everything else crossed for the last few months," Nation told Dairy News. "Set up has been difficult over the last few days with the heavy rain we've received over the last few days. But our visitors don't normally flinch over a little mud."
Visitors saw a new site layout, with a few open spaces brought about by around 4% of previous exhibitors pulling out. However newbies like McDonalds and ANZCO were at Mystery Creek for the first time.
"It's hard not to be impressed by some of the large investments being made by our exhibitors," Nation added. "Some increasing the size of their sites and also making use of substantial audiovisual displays."
Already causing a stir in the burgeoning ute sector, JAC (“Jack”) has raised its profile by being named as the latest major sponsor of June’s National Fieldays, where it will officially introduce its top-of-the-line T9 4WD double cab ute to the market, joining its fleet of 100% EV and Cummins diesel trucks.
With two months until National Fieldays at Mystery Creek, organisers say 90% of sites have been booked by exhibitors.
The New Zealand National Fieldays Society chief executive Peter Nation is to step down in December after eight years in the role.
The four-day National Fieldays at Mystery Creek last week attracted 106,000 visitors.
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Twenty rural community hubs across New Zealand will receive $5,000 to upgrade their facilities having been selected as the winners of Rabobank's Community Hub Competition.
As the dairy industry prepares to celebrate its top achievers at an awards night this Saturday, attendees are being warned to be aware of protests planned outside the venue – Baypark Arena, Mount Mauganaui.
