The chance to get under the hood of some of the most innovative agritech and equipment has always been at the core of the South Island Agricultural Field Days, and the 2025 event promises to be no exception.
Field Days committee chair Andrew Stewart said as planning cranks up the biennial event set for March 26-28 next year at Kirwee promises to give farmers and contractors the ultimate opportunity to inspect, test and drive equipment in an environment as close as possible to what they would be using it in.
“We pride ourselves on being the field days where the equipment is accessible.
“But so too are the people who sell and understand that equipment, having them on hand to really help potential buyers have a detailed, informed look at what that piece of kit can deliver for them.”
This year the traditional demonstrations will also include a change in the timetable to include a presentation walkaround for participants.
Accessibility to the equipment and the ability to see it in action has been expanded further with the addition of an earthmover-excavator demonstration area.
The earthmoving section will complement the traditional harvesting demonstration area.
“This will be popular with operators looking to upgrade their equipment.
“We intend to have a digger competition running for competitors to demonstrate their skills at some pretty delicate work; it is bound to be crowd pleaser.”
Along with the biggest and brightest shiny hardware, agritech has also always been an integral part of the displays at the field days.
Stewart is expecting the latest in large-scale drone technology to draw strong interest.
“The technology behind the drones means they are bigger and more powerful than even a few short years ago, with significantly greater crop-spraying and monitoring capabilities.
“Canterbury is the ideal and most likely place to see this gear operating commercially.”
Only a few weeks into taking exhibitor bookings there are already a healthy 250 registrations. Expectations are the 2025 field days will feature at least 650 exhibitors.
Registration has been simplified, with an accessible online registration process that provides a site map for exhibitors to outline their preferred location, and site size.
“The beauty of our site here is that should we get more exhibitors than expected, there is always plenty of extra space to expand our footprint to fit more.”
Exhibitors with a special piece of equipment to exhibit are encouraged to contact the organisers to optimise their location and exhibition time.
Stewart said the strong community and voluntary input to the South Island Field Days helps make it a personal, accessible day out for visitors and industry alike, while offering the best tech and equipment available in the world today.
“It’s always an exciting, inspiring place to spend some time.
“Even if you are not committing to some new equipment, you are guaranteed to come away a lot wiser and informed about some of the cutting-edge developments in farm productivity today.”
The 2023 event was lashed by heavy downpours just prior to kicking off on day one, making access in some areas challenging.
While crossing their fingers the weather will be more of a typical Canterbury autumn next year, the organisers have also invested significantly in improving access to the Kirwee site with additional shingle laneways laid down and boosted raceway shingle on existing laneways.
“Regardless of what mother nature brings this time, we are well set up to cope, and of course hope we see the usual run of warm, sunny weather you’d expect for the time of year.”
Would-be exhibitors wanting to attend the Field Days can get full details on bookings open now at https://www.siafd.co.nz/
