Fieldays launched online

HAMILTON: The National Agricultural Fieldays was officially opened online yesterday, replacing its usual opening event, normally held at Mystery Creek, near Hamilton.

The event, which attracted 130,000 people last year, was due to start in June but was postponed as a result of Covid19.

New Zealand National Agricultural Feildays Society president James Allan said it was exciting to launch the event.

‘‘It was 90 days ago we had to pivot from the physical event to the online and there has been a lot of hard work involved,’’ he said.

The Feildays online platform will host exhibitors’ sites, a series of webinars, live video and sales.

Society chief executive Peter Nation said the benefit of having the online event was it had a global reach.

The event was officially opened by Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern and attendees were welcomed by Prince Charles, who beamed in from London.