Event an ‘amazing’ evolution
Kevin Emonson remembers the first Mallee Machinery Fields Days, when organisers did not even have a fax machine.
He said back then he would never have dreamed of getting on a tractor, sitting back with his arms folded and watching a self-steering machine steer to 2.5-centimetre accuracy.
The founding member of Speed Lions Club has attended every Field Days since its inauguration in 1979, which was in his father’s – and now son’s – paddock.
“And looking back on more than four decades of the agricultural event, you realise just how much it has changed,” he said.
“The Field Days has gone from a day of mainly looking at machinery, to now looking at how to adopt the machinery to technology.
“The technology and information side of it is nearly as big now as the machinery side – technology has completely turned farming around.”
Mr Emonson said he had seen technology revolutionise the farming industry through
Mallee Machinery Field Days, but an understanding of farming processes and nature was still central to the industry.
“Computers and technology – I hate it – but it makes the work a fair bit easier,” he said.
“The biggest things that have changed would be direct drilling and GPS – it has revolutionised farming.
“And even the livestock industry has changed in the way people run it.
“No one would have locked up cattle or lambs back then.
“But a traditional farmer understands what basic ground needs are and what livestock nutritional needs are.
“You could have every new technology under the sun, but if it doesn’t rain, it doesn’t matter.”
Mr Emonson said the event had experienced several ‘amazing’ changes across its 41-year lifespan.
From rotating through different district properties to settling at a permanent site and watching as equipment grew in both size and complexity, the Field Days has become an annually evolving event.
“We were a bit nomadic at the start,” he said.
“People used to cultivate their ground back then, so we’d host the Field Days where someone would be sowing their ground the next year.
“Then the Torpey family offered part of their land, which is our permanent site, and we have been extremely lucky and very grateful for that.”
Mr Emonson said he felt lucky to have been involved in the Field Days’ longstanding history, which was brought together at its 40th anniversary last year.
“We had three generations of one or two families that had all been involved in the Field Days there last year, and 17 of us from the original Field Days were still able to attend,” he said.
“I’ve been able to grow with the Field Days, and lucky enough to be at every one.”
– Kevin Emonson