Reconnection and innovation key at East Coast Farming Expo
Agri-innovators, top-flight speakers and two full days of networking are the promise of the 2024 East Coast Farming Expo.
Organisers of the East Coast Farming Expo are confident the annual event will be able to happen despite stricter Covid restrictions now in place.
Event manager Sue Wilson says they are well prepared to cope and have a robust plan in place.
“The Expo is all about quality rather than quantity, so our numbers are very containable,” says Wilson. “We are determined to make this work.”
Extra staff will be brought on to help manage the additional workload for the event, which is backed by the Wairoa Community Development Trust. There will be a one-way system in place around the site. The six defined zones of the Expo will be limited to a maximum of 100 people at any one time.
The event is set to run February 23-24 at the Wairoa A&P Showgrounds.
“It is disappointing that an event of our size is excluded from the Government’s Events Transition Support Payment Scheme, where arts and culture events with attendee capacity of 100-5000 ticketed or un-ticketed are covered,” she says.
Wilson has written to both the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment as well as the Minister for Small Business, Stuart Nash, but has had little joy.
“The outlay of costs is relevant to the size of our event and will affect small local businesses who have already been affected with the cancellations of A&P Shows, and charity fetes and markets,” she says.
“Given how important the agricultural sector is to New Zealand, something that was particularly highlighted during Covid times, I would have expected a little more thought to be put into this. Some certainty for our events in provincial New Zealand would be appreciated so we too can continue to plan and roll out gatherings that are critical to the tapestry of our regions.”
Where & When
What: East Coast Farming Expo
When: February 23-24, 2022
Where: Wairoa A&P Showgrounds
More Info: www.eastcoastexpo.co.nz
Federated Farmers claims that the Otago Regional Council is charging ahead unnecessarily with piling more regulation on rural communities.
Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand for their products.
OPINION: We have good friends from way back who had lived in one of our major cities for many years.
Listed Canterbury milk processor Synlait’s shares have been placed in a trading halt.
OPINION: Even before the National-led coalition came into power, India was very much at the fore of its trade agenda.
A step-by-step guide helping farmers through the process of creating a Freshwater Farm Plan (FWFP) has been launched by FarmIQ.
OPINION: A mate of yours truly wants to know why the beef schedule differential is now more than 45-50 cents…
OPINION: Your canine crusader understands that MPI were recently in front of the Parliamentary Primary Sector Select Committee for an…