Record attendance at South Island field days

Exhibitors and farmers alike were singing in the rain at the end of the highly successful South Island Agricultural Field Days, which attracted record crowds.

Attendance for the three-day event at Lincoln University, which finished on March 28, soared to 25, 317 ­ a leap of 9000 on the last field days in 2001.

Organising committee chairman Hamish Reid said exhibitors were thrilled with the attendance and the interest shown in their products. ³Many exhibitors had strong sales with large numbers of enquiries to be followed up.

³Once again the field days have proved their worth ­ farming people can see machinery at work and compare like with like.²

Warm, sunny weather helped attract big crowds especially on the last two days and as a bonus the skies opened after the event ended. Drought-hit Canterbury farmers received between 30 and 60mm of rain over the weekend.

First-time exhibitor Span Tech, manufacturers of steel buildings such as sheds and storage areas, picked up $3 million worth of business as firm orders or to quote on. Sales manager Mike Harris said the company¹s debut had been an unqualified success.

³We didn¹t just attract interest from farmers. It is brilliant the way the field days bring in so many potential clients from other sectors such as manufacturers.²

Kevin Egerton, Commercial Business manager of CASE IH NZ, said his company had received some firm orders and lots of leads.

³It was excellent for our company. We¹ve had positive inquiries and once again the event was very well run, which makes it easy for us to do our job.²

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