Fieldays hold out the begging bowl
OPINION: When someone says “we don’t want a handout, we need a hand up” it usually means they have both palms out and they want your money.
Chief executive Peter Nation says the 2018 event is shaping up to be the biggest and best yet and will celebrate its wide-ranging contributions to farming since it began in 1968.
“We have a proud history as a world-class agricultural showcase and it has come a long way from an event aimed at getting farmers together and bridging the rural and urban gap,” Nation says.
“Fieldays is continually looking to the future and the advancement of agriculture, agribusiness and agritech, and promoting the primary industries in New Zealand and around the world.”
A committee of past National Fieldays Society presidents and members will help organise the 2018 Fieldays plus extra events, a local museum exhibition and a history book.
Nation is pleased with a survey of Fieldays 2017 showing 96% of visitors rated it “good” to “excellent” and 92 % of exhibitors said they would exhibit again. This year a record 133,588 people attended.
Nation says “we wanted to highlight how broad the primary industries sector is and that came through in the variety of exhibitions and features”.
“The Fieldays careers and education hub is a good example: thousands of school students seeing and learning about jobs and education opportunities. This shows how much the industry contributes on a global level.”
Hundreds of volunteers ensured the four-day event ran smoothly, Nation says. “There were 232 volunteers who generously gave their time to help this year.”
The 50th Fieldays will run from June 13-16 at Mystery Creek Events Centre.
