Fantastic FarmFest Field Days

21/06/22

TENS OF MILLIONS of dollars worth of agricultural machinery and services changed hands during the biggest Elders FarmFest in history last week.

Thousands of visitors flocked to Toowoomba to enjoy Queensland's biggest agricultural field days, with a new attendance record set for the three-day event.

ACM Rural Events group manager Kate Nugent said there was $124 million worth of goods and services exhibited at this year's event, making it the biggest in its history.

"This year's FarmFest gave everyone the feeling that we are back," Ms Nugent said.

"The stars really aligned for this year's event in regards to an absence of COVID-19 restrictions, great seasonal conditions and improved confidence in the agricultural sector.

"It was a phenomenal success and I think everyone felt a sense of being back in a big way."

Featuring a vast array of farming and agricultural equipment and technology, Ms Nugent said all areas of this year's FarmFest enjoyed success in regard to sales.

"Overall, there would have been millions of dollars worth of goods and services sold to visitors from across the country," she said. "From farm machinery, where there was $2.5 million recorded, construction equipment were regularly seeing sales of $200,000 or more, while tool companies recorded $1 million in sales.

"It really was a phenomenal success and I think that was truly reflected in some of the feedback we have received from exhibitors, who have told us that they were heading home with no stock. It was not one area of product that was succeeding, the sales that were recorded were far ranging across Elders FarmFest 2022."

There was lively action at the Clipex Livestock Area over the days of the event where producers from across Queensland and beyond braved Toowoomba's chilly conditions to exhibit their cattle.

Studs representing nearly every breed of cattle gathered for the annual Livestock Competitions in a bid to take out the coveted Battle of Bulls trophy and Fantastic Females and Cattleman’s Cup competitions.

The judging came after the Led Steer and Heifer competitions wowed visitors on day one, followed by a glimpse of the sector's future in the form of the junior parading and judging competitions. On days two and three judging garnered plenty of interest from those in the industry and visitors alike.

Having set an attendance goal of 60,000 visitors before this year's event, Ms Nugent said she was confident that number had been surpassed.

"I think it was a very different atmosphere compared to last year's event, which was interesting because FarmFest was one of the few lucky events to be staged last year, but there was still that cloud of being an event operating under a COVID atmosphere," she said.

"Whereas this year, we had fine weather across the three days, we most certainly had the strongest record of visitation that FarmFest has ever recorded.

"Our farmers, farming families and communities were out and about from across Queensland, northern NSW and as far away as Northern Territory.

"It was really far reaching in terms of visitation and I think that really had a positive impact on the local economy, based on the businesses I have spoken to."

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