AGQUIP exhibitors have enjoyed some of their best sales ever, with multi-million-dollar deals done over the past three days. Fairfax Rural Events group manager Kate Nugent said the event had been a “spectacular success”. 

“Multi-million-dollar purchasing has happened on the field,” Ms Nugent said. “It has been a strong sales event, with leads that we hope will carry these agricultural companies throughout the year. That is without doubt the power of AgQuip. We’ve had reports from some small and local manufacturers of  million-dollar orders that have been taken off this site over two days.”

She said the effects were far-reaching with shed companies and first-time exhibitors “overwhelmed beyond expectations of orders and sales made”.

“It’s one of the bigger Tuesdays we’ve seen in many, many years. Day two (Wednesday) was a strong day and comparable to other years and day three was phenomenal,” she said.

“It was a very big day three. There are reports from exhibitors that people are coming from further away, with people from every state here.”

First-time exhibitor Telfer Rural Fencing owner Adrian Telfer said he was overwhelmed with the sales over the field days.

“The kennels and feedlot troughs and hay feeders were all popular,” he said.

The extra sales have translated into more jobs for people in Tamworth.

He says he will have to employ up to five people to meet demand from the orders, and what he had sold in one day at AgQuip was equivalent to what he had expected to sell over the entire three days.

“Who knows what phone calls will come in over the next six months that have been a result of what’s happened here,” he said.

Exhibitors and organisers said sales and the numbers of inquiries demonstrated the level of confidence in the agricultural sector. 

“What AgQuip delivers on is the economic indicator for Australian primary industries,” Ms Nugent said. 

“It’s confirming we are optimistic, there is caution, but there is confidence and that is attributed to the fact we have low interest rates, free trade agreements, higher cattle prices and tax incentives for primary producers. 

“The fine weather has also enabled a lot of farming families to come and we’ve seen an increase in the number of families coming for that AgQuip experience. 

“The kids go away and they’ll remember the greatest show on earth.” 

Mr Telfer was pleased to see smiles on the faces of the farmers.

“The rain and prices of different commodities has probably eased the burden on a lot of people and given them a lot of positivity for the future,” he said.

Peel Valley Group sales and marketing manager Stephen John said they’d enjoyed more inquiries than last year and the year before. 

“To some extent that would have reflected the better season, although we need more rain to make this winter crop happen,” he said.