Farmers’ challenge
Rain arrived on cue for Farm World over the weekend, but organisers and exhibitors reported strong crowds and strong sales for the annual event. Crowd numbers were just short of last year’s record with more than 55,000 people still attending the four-day event at Lardner Park, despite two days of rain and wind. “At the end of the day, rain is effectively money from the sky and we have to celebrate that,” said Lardner Park chief executive Nicola Pero. “We are in the heart of Victoria’s food bowl and we needed the rain. “If Farm World can be Gippsland’s rain dance each year then we are happy to do that. People fronted up with brollies, coats, gumboots and smiles and they weren’t perturbed by the weather,” she said. Agricultural technology and demonstrations, machinery, equestrian, drones, Gippsland’s fittest farmer and a milking competition were all features of this year’s Farm World from Thursday to Sunday. Ms Pero said ticket sales indicated record crowds on Thursday and Friday but lower crowd numbers on Saturday and Sunday had stopped them reaching record levels. Many exhibitors reported their busiest first day ever and Ms Pero said some of the feedback from businesses was they had an “awesome year.” Ms Pero said she spoke to a lot of exhibitors and received a lot of positive feedback. “They were very supportive of some of the changes we are making. We feel we are getting the mix right,” she said. Ms Pero said the board had worked hard to provide a mix of options to Farm World visitors from agricultural, hobby farming, equestrian, lifestyle and family activities. She said 15 years ago visitors went to Farm World to buy a new tractor or other farm machinery. But now, she said they have other options for doing their homework or procurement before major purchases. “We are all time poor so we have to give families multiple reasons to attend. We have to address all audience groups and we think we are getting that mix right. “It gives us huge confidence in the event and programming for next year’s event,” she said. A new initiative this year was a VIP farmers’ club, which enabled agricultural machinery and equipment dealers to purchase tickets at a reduced rate to then on-sell or giveaway to clients. Farmers were then provided with a VIP lanyard that gave them special giveaways, priority parking and other benefits. Ms Pero said the VIP club was well received and would continue next year.