Leading farm machinery field days AgQuip will be introducing a new “Innovation Centre” for this year’s event, which will showcase the latest agricultural technology and services.
By invitation, exhibitors with new technology to demonstrate will set up a display in the centre. These could include product demonstrations, audio-visual presentations and brochures.
If a specific product catches a visitor’s attention, they can proceed to visit the exhibitor’s site at AgQuip to retrieve more information.
AgQuip organiser Fairfax Rural Events Group Manager Kate Nugent says the centre is set up for this year’s field days following growing public interest in the field of innovation and technology.
“Australian agriculture is moving with the times,” she says.
“Commonwealth Bank AgQuip leads the way in creating a national primary industry that is better, more cost-efficient, more responsive to change and ultimately more profitable.”
AgQuip, deemed to be the largest farming field days in Australia will take place in the rural town of Gunnedah, New South Wales over three days next week from August 18 to 20.
The event, now in its 43rd year, attracts over 3000 companies to display their wares and services as well as over 100,000 visitors through the gates every year.
Fairfax Rural Events says annual demand for exhibition space outstrips available space every year and this year is no exception.
In addition to local businesses and products, visitors can also expect an international flavour at the event with AgQuip confirming the attendance of businesses from around the world including China, Czech Republic, Germany, New Zealand, United States and the Netherlands.
An annual highlight at the event is the presentation of the prestigious Brownhill Cup which is awarded to farmers in Australia’s north eastern farming zone who applies innovative and sustainable farming practises on their properties. Last year, the award was taken home by Boggabri cotton farmer Andrew Watson
Nugent adds the field days provide a good opportunity for those in the market for new machinery or technology to touch, feel and compare thousands of products.
“You can go online to do your homework – but unless you sit in the seat of that $20,000 piece of machinery and hear the purr of the engine, making a decision can be a risk,” she says.
“It’s that first hand-experience and the opportunity to talk to the manufacturer and/or the dealer.”
Every year, companies big and small use AgQuip as a platform to launch their new products. Some of the new items visitors can expect to see this year include:
- Croplands Equipment’s WEEDit spot spray technology and self-propelled Cropliner sprayer for orchards.
- Gravtill’s new SmartBoom – a ute-mounted self-levelling boom for spraying.
- The Rescue Swag 100 per cent safety response kit which featured on the Channel Ten TV show Shark Tank.
- Roswell Ag’s 9500 Poly Cattle Feeder which is Australian made and never rusts.
- Davey AFM’s new ElGrillo 25 tonne chaser bin made with stronger axles, heavier front wall and a fully welded and clean hopper design.
- Grizzly Engineering’s new TINY range of heavy duty offset disc ploughs built for the harshest conditions.
- Makinex Construction Products’ Cormidi mini loader range, designed for use in tight areas.
“Despite enormous changes to media and advertising over the last decade or so, Commonwealth Bank AgQuip continues to consolidate and grow as the most effective way to connect buyers and sellers of rural products and services,” Nugent says.
“Commonwealth Bank AgQuip has made, and continues to make, a major commitment to our national agricultural industry as the single largest face-to-face gathering of farmers and their suppliers.”
Entry to the AgQuip field days is free of charge. For more information on the field days, visit Agquip.com.au
Photography: Carene Chong