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A total 26,648 people came through the gate for the first day yesterday of the New Zealand National Agricultural Fieldays at Mystery Creek.
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.
Walking around the Fieldays this year, expected most of the conversations to be about machinery purchases and farm infrastructure upgrades. Instead, one topic seemed to keep cropping up more frequently with farmers – the price of PKE.
A new digital assistant is now helping Ballance Agri-Nutrients farmers speed up nutrient information and ordering.
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Kaikōura families affected by July's severe storm have found a practical solution to a problem that's kept some children away from regular schooling for weeks: a washed-out section of Inland Kaikōura Road, which has stopped the local school bus from running its usual route.
Rural New Zealand is welcoming the Government’s recent package of rural healthcare initiatives.
Interest in agritech and production animal systems has prompted Massey University's School of Agriculture and the Environment to new majors to its popular animal science degree.
