Fieldays to bring excitement

on Day 1 at New Zealand Agricultural Wednesday 11 June 2014. Photo: Stephen Barker/Barker Photography

A number of Rotorua businesses - including a Chinese restaurant - will be on display at one of the biggest events on the agricultural calendar.

The New Zealand National Agricultural Fieldays, the annual trade extravaganza for rural industries, starts today at the Mystery Creek Events Centre near Hamilton.

More than 100,000 people are expected to attend the show in four days, with upwards of a thousand companies registered to exhibit.

Rotorua's Harmen Heesen, director of Cowhousing Solutions, said his team had been setting up for the last three weeks.

"Fieldays is a pretty big thing in our agenda, and in the spirit of things we always endeavour to create displays and interactive activites for farmers and people in the industry."

He said his company's stand this year would include live cows being milked on-site with robotic milkers and demonstrations of "nutrient-friendly" effluence collectors.

Mr Heesen is no stranger to the annual excitement at Mystery Creek, he has been attending Fieldays for 28 years, and sits on the event company's board of directors.

"It's a really good event in the calendar," he said - an event that was good at fostering "interaction and collobaration" among people in rural industries.

"It's a lot more than just doing a deal on the day."

That's not to say that deals aren't struck; Field Days estimates the 2014 event had a $422 million impact on New Zealand's economy, and $138 million for the Waikato region alone.

Despite the difficulties dairy farmers face due to a low milk pay-outs, Mr Hessen wasn't expecting a slump in attendees.

"The problems around the environment and nitrogen leaching and global warming - whether you like it or not - are not going to go away," he said.

"If you don't take into consideration those elements, you are not going to survive.

"Most farmers are not business just for the good years, they are in it for the long term."

Ross Schultz, managing director at Active Engineering Solutions, said his company had been exhibiting at Fieldays since 2008.

"It is the one time that we really get to catch up with a lot of the customers," he said.
But the event is hardly a casual social affair.

"It's hard work," Mr Schultz said. "Nothing happens till about 9am, then there is a big rush until about 2pm."

One Rotorua business unlikely to complain about the Fieldays rush is Chinese restaurant Ming and Sing.

Manager Helen Leung said the restuarant had been taking a mobile food caravan to the event for a decade - and the commerical logic was self-evident.

"There are thousand of people going through there ... we love it."

This year Fieldays has partnered with the New Zealand Transport Agency to help people travelling to the event.

Those making the journey from Rotorua will be able to estimate their travel time using Bluetooth trackers, and keep up to date with traffic information via the #Fieldaystravel hashtag.