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Farmlands chief executive Peter Reidie shakes hands with NZ National Fieldays Society head Peter Nation.
Rural service provider Farmlands has become a major sponsor of the National Fieldays.
It will support key events such as Rural Bachelor of the Year, No. 8 Wire and Tractor Pull.
A three-year partnership between the NZ National Fieldays Society and Farmlands Cooperative Society was announced recently at the annual Farmlands Supplier Awards evening at Lincoln University in Christchurch.
Farmlands brands NRM, McMillan and Gulf Oil are sponsors of other Fieldays Society events – Equidays (October) and The Transport and Heavy Equipment Expo to be held March 2-4.
“We are delighted at this partnership with Farmlands, and the opportunity it presents,” said NZ National Fieldays Society chief executive Peter Nation.
“Farmlands’ brand is well known and trusted by farmers and people working in the primary industry. The Fieldays Society and Farmlands have similar values and passion for innovation and positive change in farming.”
The Fieldays Society was founded in 1968 and will mark its 50th anniversary in 2018.
Farmlands is NZ’s largest farmer owner co-op; it was set up in 1963. It is a top-20 company with a turnover exceeding $2 billion annually.
Farmlands chief executive Peter Reidie says the partnership will benefit farmers, whose desire is “to work together for a better deal”.
Economy boost
In 2016 the National Fieldays generated $430 million in economic benefit for the NZ economy.
There were 1462 exhibitor sites and 130,684 visitors during the four-day event. Last year economists valued the Fieldays brand, which is internationally recognised, at $380 million.
The theme for Fieldays 2017 (June 14-17) at the Mystery Creek Events Centre, is ‘leading change’.
Chief executive Peter Nation says the partnership with Farmlands Co-op will help with change.
“Farmlands is a leader in its field and together we hope to assist in providing leadership and innovative thinking to transform the future of primary production in NZ,” says Nation.
The iconic services building at National Fieldays' Mystery Creek site will be demolished to make way for a "contemporary replacement that better serves the needs of both the community and event organisers," says board chair Jenni Vernon.
Rural service trader Farmlands hosted a special legacy event this week to celebrate its 63-year history in the Hastings community and mark the next chapter of investment in the region.
OPINION: The Rural Support Trust ran a dinner and debate at the National Fieldays last month. In tables of 10, over 540 people were wined and dined, including the Prime Minister, supported by ministers from around the country.
OPINION: Good times are coming back for the primary industries. From sentiment expressed at Fieldays to the latest rural confidence survey results, all indicate farmer confidence at a near-record high.
OPINION: The Federated Farmers rural advocacy hub at Fieldays has been touted as a great success.
Applications have now opened for the 2026 Meat Industry Association scholarships.
Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) says it is backing aspiring dairy farmers through a new initiative designed to make the first step to farm ownership or sharemilking easier.
OPINION: While farmers are busy and diligently doing their best to deal with unwanted gasses, the opponents of farming - namely the Greens and their mates - are busy polluting the atmosphere with tirades of hot air about what farmers supposedly aren't doing.
OPINION: For close to eight years now, I have found myself talking about methane quite a lot.
The Royal A&P Show of New Zealand, hosted by the Canterbury A&P Association, is back next month, bigger and better after the uncertainty of last year.
Claims that farmers are polluters of waterways and aquifers and 'don't care' still ring out from environmental groups and individuals. The phrase 'dirty dairying' continues to surface from time to time. But as reporter Peter Burke points out, quite the opposite is the case. He says, quietly and behind the scenes, farmers are embracing new ideas and technologies to make their farms sustainable, resilient, environmentally friendly and profitable.
