UV-C Treatment: Viticulture game changer
A system that combines UV-C light for disinfection could provide chemical free treatment of plant pathogens and diseases such as powdery mildew and botrytis on berry, vine and tree crops.
OPINION: With the 2024 edition of National Fieldays behind us, it would be fair to say that although the mood was positive – a plus, given the negative sentiment across the rural sector – you must wonder if this showcase format’s days are numbered.
Numbers through the gate tumbled to around 106,000 people, suggesting that money is tight and the fact that entry for a family of four, plus drinks and snacks throughout the day, could easily run to two hundy before you trudge back to the car.
Whilst Fieldays offers plenty of opportunity for the ‘suits’ from the big cities to don their brand new Red Bands to network and speak with real country people, you really must wonder if the four days are any good for business.
Of course, many of the smaller sites will have done well with the likes of gumboots, waterproof clothing and power tools, so are sure to give it a thumbs up. Moving to sites selling large capital items such as tractors or harvesters, then surely it’s just an oversized, costly circus?
Back a decade or more, Fieldays may have been the place to grab a special deal and save a few dollars. Given the current state of the economy, with tractor sales down significantly and a report last week telling us that the new car market was back by more than 50% to a record breaking low, it would be safe to assume that a “special deal” would be available at any tractor dealership or car yard, at any time between 8.30am and 5.00pm, on any day of the week.
Some Fieldays stalwarts will draw your attention to a post-event edition of the Sunday morning Q&A programme where a gushing Auckland journo interviewed a representative of a farm machinery brand, who claimed to have sold a multimillion- dollar, self-propelled forage harvester “at the event”. Really, if you believe that someone walked onto the site after his coffee and bacon sarnie and bought a $1.5 million-plus machine because it took his fancy, you will believe Bill Clinton who famously said, “I did not have sex with that woman!”
Of course, that same person might have made a ceremonial handshake on the day, but the truth is, behind the scenes there had been weeks, if not months, of negotiations, trade-in valuations, pricing haggles and finance quotes. The same applies to tractors, where the days of $1000 per horsepower are long gone – with current pricing closer to double that number.
Many site holders will be looking at postevent statistics, focusing on what it cost to be there, and probably realising that the number is a disproportionate amount of their annual marketing budget. Then realising that there are another 236 working days in the year when they still need to be flying the company flag.
During the original Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, Fieldays took a rain check, yet the tractor and farm machinery sales rose by more than 30%, so go figure how influential the Fieldays event really is in agri-commerce. The writing is likely on the wall for the true commercial side of the four days. Yup, fast moving goods will continue being carried back to the car, but farmers and contractors are changing the way they look at capital purchases, looking to see machines in the flesh on their own properties or at specialised working events. Watch this space.
Alliance Group has secured greater access for chilled beef exports to China, following approval for two of its processing plants to supply the market.
The countdown is on to be one of the most anticipated events in the sheep and beef industry, the East Coast Farming Expo.
Applications for the 2025 intake of Rabobank's Farm Managers Programme (FMP) and Executive Development Programme (EDP) are now open.
Dean Smith has been in the role of CEO of Summerfruit NZ for about four months, having succeeded Kate Hellstrom at the end of September.
Beef + Lamb NZ wants farmers to complete a survey that will shed light on the financial toll of facial eczema (FE) at the farm level.
New Zealand cherry exports may be headed for a record year in terms of volume, says Summerfruit NZ chief executive Dean Smith.
OPINION: Ruth Richardson, architect of the 1991 ‘Mother of all Budgets’ and the economic reforms dubbed ‘Ruthanasia’, added her two…
OPINION: Why do vegans and others opposed to eating meat try to convince others that a plant based diet is…