Technology a feature of Fieldays
OPINION:
It’s June and for me, that means two things to look forward to - the Queen’s Birthday long weekend and Fieldays.
The long weekend was filled with wild weather warnings, thunderstorms, floods and an early opening to the ski season.
It’s new technology that enabled the early season opening at Mt Ruapehu.
The cold weather would have helped of course.
But it was really their new snow-making machines that provided for a record number of skiers at Whakapapa.
Amazingly, the new technology can make snow in temperatures of up to 25°C. Technology will be a feature of Fieldays 2018 too.
And a record number of people are expected for Fieldays’ Golden Anniversary year. Last year, over 133 thousand visitors attended what was the largest agricultural event in the Southern Hemisphere where 998 exhibitors were showcased across 1473 sites.
Back in 1969, the first Town and Country Fair as it was then known, was held at the Te Rapa racecourse in Hamilton. More than 10,000 people attended that first event, some four to five times the number anticipated.
Fieldays is run by the New Zealand National Fieldays Society, a charitable organisation with a dual mission of bringing town and country together, and advancing agriculture for the benefit of New Zealand.
Their theme for this year is the ‘Future of Farming’ and will be applied across Fieldays’ four pillars of innovation, education, technology and internationalisation.
The International Business Centre brings our agritech companies together with international buyers and visitors to sell and buy agriculture products and services.
The Careers and Education Hub is a collaborative and interactive zone where students can experience the many career opportunities that the primary sector offers.
Kiwi ingenuity is on display in the Innovation Centre which is my favourite place to explore. This year’s Innovations entrants include a pesticide-free hydrothermal weed management system and a footwear biosecurity system.
There are a range of products that mitigate nitrate leaching from in-pasture dung deposits and a new system for treating farm dairy effluent. They’ll make a difference to the quality of our water ways and to the carbon emissions of our dairy sector.
Up for grabs at the Innovation Centre are a range of awards, from prototypes for new ideas, through product development for existing companies to the Launch Award for products being launched by a small to medium size businesses.
Technology is of course a feature of so many exhibitors across the Fieldays site. From robotic milking machines to hitech tractors there is something to interest even the luddites amongst us.
One of the most beneficial technologies is the new smartphone app that makes it easy to work out how to get to where you want to go - including back to the car.
The 50th Fieldays will run from June 13-16 at Mystery Creek Events Centre.