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.
OPINION: The Hound reckons the decision by Fieldays to hold the event in summer turned out to be a bit of a fizzer.
Not only were the number of exhibitors down on the amount who were usually there, but so was attendance.
This year’s total crowd size was estimated to be only around 75,000 – compared to the 130,000 or so who normally turn up to Fieldays in June.
In fact, one exhibitor reckoned the crowd was so sparse they could have fired a shotgun down one of the roads and not hit anybody!
However, according to Fieldays CEO Peter Nation, the low number of attendees meant it was all about “quality not quantity”.
One wag told your old mate that Mr Nation appeared to be channelling the hapless lawyer Denis Denuto from the Aussie cult movie ‘The Castle’, claiming it was all about the ‘vibe’ rather than facing the reality!
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says withdrawing from the Paris Agreement on climate change would be “a really dumb move”.
The University of Waikato has broken ground on its new medical school building.
Undoubtedly the doyen of rural culture, always with a wry smile, our favourite ginger ninja, Te Radar, in conjunction with his wife Ruth Spencer, has recently released an enchanting, yet educational read centred around rural New Zealand in one hundred objects.
Farmers are being urged to keep on top of measures to control Cysticerus ovis - or sheep measles - following a spike in infection rates.
For more than 50 years, Waireka Research Station at New Plymouth has been a hub for globally important trials of fungicides, insecticides and herbicides, carried out on 16ha of orderly flat plots hedged for protection against the strong winds that sweep in from New Zealand’s west coast.
There's a special sort of energy at the East Coast Farming Expo, especially when it comes to youth.

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