Field days under review as exhibitors count cost

With almost all field days around the country cancelled this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, their absence has given exhibitors a chance to evaluate their ongoing presence.

We’ll be back: Tony Peters, New Holland’s national product manager, supports field days. Picture: YURI KOUZMIN

With almost all field days across the country cancelled this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, their absence has given exhibitors a chance to evaluate their ongoing presence.

FarmWorld, Wimmera, Mallee, AgFest, Elmore, Henty and most recently AgQuip field days have all been cancelled.

AgQuip, in NSW, had been postponed from August to November, but many exhibitors were unhappy about it being held during harvesting.

For machinery manufacturers it’s an expensive exercise to attend them, with one leading brand saying it costs the company about $250,000 to attend a single field day.

This includes costs associated with transporting machinery, setting up sites and accommodation for employees.

Association of Agricultural Field Days of Australasia secretary Wendy Franklin said while the cancellations have been economically devastating for exhibitors, “I don’t see this changing field days”.

“We’ve been educating our members on different entry procedures, different data base systems, we’re looking at upskilling them on social media.

“We’re trying to have planning in place so we’re well positioned to go forward.”

All manufacturers said they were constantly evaluating the costs, but apart from needing to have a presence at the events, it’s their best chance to meet with customers.

Case IH’s general manager Pete McCann said no manufacturer wanted to be the first one to say they were not going.

“From a manufacturer and dealer point of view, it’s very expensive,” Mr McCann said.

“The problem is there’s just too many of them, but it’s still a very important place to talk to customers.

“People used to go there to buy a tractor, but they don’t do that any more because all of the information is on the internet. It’s only really to talk to a specialist. It’s about having that interaction.”

New Holland’s national product manager Tony Peters said the blue brand had no intention of pulling out of field days.

“A field day is a great place for us as a manufacturer to talk to our customers and it’s an opportunity we don’t often get. That’s really valuable, but it comes at a huge cost,” Mr Peters said.

“We’ve questioned the value of field days over a number of years, but we keep coming back to the fact it’s interaction with our customers and with our dealers.”

An Agritechnica-style alternative at Avalon Airport has been touted by one group of ag machinery leaders, including John Richards from Goldacres, Peter Piddington from Rovic and Paul Ryan from Ryan Farm Machinery.

“The time’s probably right now,” Mr Piddington said.

“We did get positive vibes back from the state government, which was prepared to put up money for a business case study.”

Mr McCann said he would be “very interested” in a three-day event in a capital city.

“Bring your family, come to the city and make a week of it,” he said.

“To have something under cover where all the machines are polished up and pristine has a lot of value. You could do an absolute cracker of a two-year event, go all out.”

The overriding factor supporting field days remains that they are a strong conduit between agriculture and farming, and the community.