Good crowd to Fieldays first day

This figure was typical for the first day of the event, says event manager Vanessa Richmond.

"We're very pleased to be bringing everybody an extra special event this year with several new or reformatted areas," she says.

"There has been a huge interest in our Innovations with its new format competition which has attracted amazing entrants. We're eagerly looking forward to our brand new event 'Innovation Den – pitch for investment' this afternoon."

Powered by SODA inc, the Dragon's Den style event will be held at 2.30pm today and will see 12 finalists pitch their inventions to a panel of investors and business leaders.

Another busy area on day one was Kiwi's Best Kitchen which was extremely popular with visitors enjoying the new layout and demos from chefs including Josh Emett, and the eight Rural Bachelors competing at this year's Fieldays.

This year's Premier Feature 'Getting Down to Business in the Global Economy', set the tone for a range of exhibits and seminars based on the challenges of meeting global demands and growing New Zealand's economy. Premier Feature sponsor, Ministry for Primary Industries, has a strong alignment with this year's theme and their staff are busy at Fieldays, presenting seminars and talking to visitors at their stand.

The 45th annual Fieldays was officially opened by Minister of Primary Industries, Nathan Guy, who had earlier held a Meet the Minister session in the Fieldays seminars.

Powered by the University of Waikato, the Fieldays seminars continue today and Friday and featuring a robust schedule of informative agricultural based sessions.

New Zealand National Agricultural Fieldays is on now until Saturday at Mystery Creek Events Centre, 10 minutes south of Hamilton. Fieldays is supported by strategic partners - ANZ and the University of Waikato. Tickets can be bought online or at the gate, visit www.fieldays.co.nz for more details.