'Boutique' AgSmart event proves a hit for thousands of farmers and businesses

Stallholders travelled from across the country for the opportunity to market their products and innovations to farmers and businesses, who had also travelled from far and wide.

The event is a precursor to AgQuip, which is set to celebrate its 50^th anniversary this year, although this week's display is special in its own way according to ACM events group manager Kate Nugent.

"This is deliberately set up as what we're calling a boutique event, so it's very different from not only AgQuip, but all other field days across Australia," she said.

"AgSmart has been designed to focus on agritech and innovation, so it's for that reason we've gone indoors and outdoors with our exhibits, and that we do have back-to-back free seminars running daily.

"They're for all our visitors to attend so they can get up close and personal, understanding these new products that are available to our farmers to drive efficiency, to drive productivity and ultimately profitability."

On top of attracting stallholders from Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, it has also brought in businesses which haven't attended field days in the region before.

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Communications company Zetifi was one of those, and is using the tech-focused event to help address reception issues, which have become increasingly problematic for farmers in recent years.

Project manager Luke Brodrick said AgSmart was giving the business the platform to reach out and interact with people who face that issue.

"It's a good little setting because it's not as if you're out in the open like you are on a field day and people just walk past you," he said.

"It's a more interactive setting than I've experienced so far and we're just getting more customers coming in asking genuine questions."

Ms Nugent said stallholders weren't the only ones to benefit though.

With so many extra people in town, she was confident businesses all throughout Tamworth would've experienced an uptick in trade.

"What we do recognise is we that we impact on tourism, the hospitality industry certainly gains from these types of events coming back," she said.

"It's been on-again off-again in the event world, not only here in Australia but across the world, and it's just so exciting on many levels to even have our wonderful entertainment venue here in Tamworth occupied."

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