Agricultural fieldays, a barometer of optimism

There's a bright light in the rural sector, despite the much publicised economic "doom and gloom", with strong support being shown for the 2009 South Island Agricultural Field Days to be held at Lincoln over 25-27 March. Exhibitor participation in these field days  -  the longest running field days in the country, founded in 1952  -  is always a good barometer of how positive people are feeling about the agricultural sector, says Field Days chairman David James of Lincoln."Exhibitor support for the latest South Island Agricultural Field Days indicates the 2009 event will be a bumper occasion," he says. "Applications for sites on the seven-hectare Weedons Road venue, adjacent to Lincoln University, were due to close on 31 December and over 230 exhibitors have confirmed their participation. Some of the bigger displays span a number of sites, so we will be having an event at least as big as 2007 and probably even bigger." The Field Days are held in alternate years at Lincoln  -  alternating with Waimumu near Gore. Attendances at Lincoln over the three days are typically in the 20,000 to 25,000 range. Machinery demonstrations are the main attraction and the event is the biggest agricultural demonstration field days in New Zealand. Exhibits cover everything in the machinery, equipment and technical line directly related to primary production, and also include agriculture-related commodities, services, fencing, irrigation, veterinary care, agri-chemicals, workshop tools and equipment of all sorts. For 2009 the Field Days Committee used GPS to plan the venue which has meant more sites are available. The Field Days are open from 8.00am to 5.00pm, from Wednesday 25 March to Friday 27 March.