Farmers may not be immune to the icy touch of recession, but National Agricultural Fieldays chairman Lloyd Downing says there will be a positive outlook at this week's massive agricultural show. Thousands of exhibitors, farmers and members of the public will descend on Fieldays at Mystery Creek, near Hamilton, from Wednesday - the biggest agricultural show in the Southern Hemisphere reports the NZ Herald. "They'll [farmers] be looking to try and find something cheaper, where they can save money either in technical terms or to try and drive a good bargain ... There's nothing like Fieldays to do that." Fieldays said it attracted 131,629 visitors last year to 40ha of exhibitions and demonstrations, with $285 million of sales and an economic impact of $865 million."I'd be fooling myself if I thought I was going to break any records," Downing said. But the Innovation Centre had doubled its entries, and Kiwi's Best had doubled its exhibitors, compared to last year. Farmers took a long-term view, Downing said. "They may not be spending as much money as what they were last year, but I think it's still positive, and the long-term outlook for NZis still a hell of a lot better than what a lot of countries' are." The premier feature of Fieldays is My Land, Our Environment, with a focus on safe guarding the future of farming and helping farmers make an impact. .
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