THE sun shone brightly in a perfect opener for the massive farm field day AgQuip, with thousands pouring through the gates yesterday for the start of the three-day event.
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Organised by Fairfax Rural Events, the 43rd Commonwealth Bank AgQuip covers 26 hectares on a site about 6km west of Gunnedah and features the involvement of more than 3000 companies and organisations.
Check out the gallery of all the action at Ag Quip on day one here
Fairfax Rural Events group manager Kate Nugent said the first day was “very, very exciting for us”.
“There’s been strong crowds streaming in and fine, fine weather. It’s a great start for our exhibitors, who’ve already reported sales and leads. We’ve got high expectations for AgQuip 2015,” Ms Nugent said.
Major events held during AgQuip include the presentation of the Brownhill Cup - one of Australia’s most prestigious agricultural awards, given in recognition of innovative farming practices that improve sustainability, productivity and profitability in agriculture - at 11.30am today, and the Young Farmers Forum tomorrow.
There were also quite a few new faces among the 1800 exhibitors set up at the field day, including CzechTrade, part of the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, and DOM Distribution, which hails from Dalby, Queensland.
CzechTrade director Vojtech Helikar said the organisation had only set up its office in Australia, in Sydney, two years ago and he’d found attendees’ feedback to already be supportive and positive.
The organisation has information about various Czech businesses, including tyre producer Mitas and recreation light aircraft manufacturer BRM, and hopes to improve trade between the Czech Republic and Australia as a result of exhibiting at AgQuip.
DOM Distribution product manager Jim Ryan was joined by service manager Luke Muller for their site and showed off machinery including a K-Tec scraper, with demonstrations for interested visitors.
The company specialises in distributing agricultural and construction machinery, such as the Wolverine Extreme ditcher, Patz mixer and Hagie sprayer.
AgQuip is open from 9am to 5pm today, and from 9am to 4pm tomorrow.