MEDIA RELEASE
12 June 2013
45th National Fieldays kicks off with a sunny and bustling first day

The early morning fog over Mystery Creek lifted quickly on Wednesday for the first day of the annual event with large crowds eager to enjoy the ever popular rural expo.

New Zealand National Agricultural Fieldays is this year celebrating its 45th annual event and the gates opened at 8am to a solid stream of visitors. In total 26,648 came through the gate, a figure that Event Manager Vanessa Richmond said was typical for the first day of the event.

“The crowds turned up for our opening day and we’re very pleased to be bringing everybody an extra special event this year with several new or reformatted areas.

“There has been a huge interest in our Innovations with its new format competition which has attracted amazing entrants. We’re eagerly looking forward to our brand new event ‘Innovation Den – pitch for investment’ on Thursday afternoon.”

Powered by SODA inc, the “Dragon’s Den” style event will be held at 2.30pm on Thursday and will see twelve finalists pitch their inventions to a panel of investors and business leaders.
Another busy area on day one was Kiwi’s Best Kitchen which was extremely popular with visitors enjoying the new layout and demos from chefs including Josh Emett, and the eight Rural Bachelors competing at this year’s Fieldays.
This year’s Premier Feature ‘Getting Down to Business in the Global Economy’, set the tone for a range of exhibits and seminars based on the challenges of meeting global demands and growing New Zealand’s economy. Premier Feature sponsor, Ministry for Primary Industries, has a strong alignment with this year’s theme and their staff are busy at Fieldays, presenting seminars and talking to visitors at their stand.

The 45th annual Fieldays was officially opened by Minister of Primary Industries, Hon Nathan Guy, who had earlier held a ‘Meet the Minister’ session in the Fieldays seminars.

Powered by the University of Waikato, the Fieldays seminars continue on Thursday and Friday and featuring a robust schedule of informative agricultural based sessions giving Fieldays visitors the opportunity to hear industry leaders discussing topical events.

New Zealand National Agricultural Fieldays is on now until 15 June 2013 at Mystery Creek Events Centre, 10 minutes south of Hamilton. Fieldays is proudly supported by strategic partners - ANZ and the University of Waikato. Tickets can be purchased online or at the gate, visit www.fieldays.co.nz for more details.

ENDS

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