Fieldays’ move may impact numbers
‘‘People can’t just take work off – it’s a bitmore complicated at the end of the year. Day-to-day farming continues and you can’t just park things.’’
Dairy farmers will have to ‘‘make it work’’ if they want to attend the biggest agriculture event in the southern hemisphere, says a Waikato farmer.
The New Zealand National Fieldays Society announced the annual agriculture trade show will be rescheduled from June 15-18 to November 30-December 3 in a bid to avoid the worst effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
But the new dates come at a busy time for dairy farmers – it’s a crucial time for mating, cows are being milked twice a day and silage needs to be taken care of.
While one local dairy farmer said ‘‘it’s a bit more complicated’’, it was the second-best option and farmers will make it work.
torohanga cow and goat farmer Michael Woodward said June was the ideal time for Fieldays.
‘‘It’s a quiet time on farm so it was a good time to have it,’’ he told Stuff. ‘‘It’s the one time when everybody didn’t have much on and it suited people right across the country.’’
He acknowledged organisers had a tough decision and were left with no other option, but says there may be people who can’t take time off.
‘‘People can’t just take work off – it’s a bit more complicated at the end of the year. Day-to-day farming continues and you can’t just park things. It will definitely minimise the dairy guys who can go to Fieldays.’’
Woodward said managers may need to split staff over two days, call on neighbouring farmers for help, or milk cows earlier in the day and later at night if they wanted to attend the annual event.
But that won’t necessarily work for those coming from across the country, he said.
The event at Mystery Creek near Hamilton is an international phenomenon, for both exhibitors and visitors.
Last year the event drew more than 132,000 people, becoming the second biggest in the event’s 53-year history.
Fieldays chief executive Peter
Nation isn’t expecting this year to be any different. In fact, he’s anticipating it will be bigger than ever.
‘‘I think people will make a bigger effort because they haven’t been able to go to any agriculture event for some time.’’
Northern hemisphere exhibitors and visitors may find an event at a warmer time of the year more attractive, he said.
There will be no winter rain or fog and people will be able to fly into Hamilton Airport without having to worry about cancelled flights, Nation added.
‘‘They don’t want to hop out of bed, jump on a long-haul flight and into the middle of our winter. They want to enjoy our summer. We’ve been dealt this card so let’s see it through.’’
The new timing took account of a range of rural sector seasonal timings and when asked if the change could impact the dairy industry, Nation said Fieldays represents every industry, not just dairy farming.
‘‘We appreciate it will run into some time on the farming calendar, but they do take time off. The event is really important for farmers, but we’ve tried really hard to change the narrative. We’re attracting a gamut of primary producers.
‘‘No-one likes change, but we were forced to make this decision. Let’s deal with what we’ve been given and make it a success.’’
Meanwhile, Waikato Federated Farmers president Jacqui Hahn said November and December wasn’t a good time for farmers.
‘‘We’re already really busy, in the midst of mating and it’s really hard to get off farm. If it’s stuff that has to be done, it has to be done, it can’t wait until the next day.’’
Hahn said there could ‘‘definitely’’ be fewer farmers at the Fieldays this year.
‘‘We enjoy our farmers’ day out, farmers love farming, and any excuse to go out and do what you love when there’s something for everyone, it’s a good family day out.’’
While she agrees it’s hard to look into a crystal ball, she believes sticking to June would have been a better option.