The inaugural Farmers and Growers Field day at the A & P Showgrounds in Richmond was well received by those attending, with many already looking forward to next year's show.
While numbers were not huge, a steady stream of visitors took advantage of the sunshine throughout the day to visit the many trade displays, and the general feeling from the vendors was one of quality not quantity.
Paul Busson from Total Irrigation had one of the many large and impressive displays at the site, and commented that he was delighted with the day, with plenty of good interest being shown by those attending.
Nelson Chainsaws and Mowers manager Peter Busch was also enthusiastic about the day. "It's been excellent, a great day. You had buyers here that wanted to buy, wanted knowledge, and were looking for the products, compared to an A&P show where you have people out here for the entertainment. A specialist day like this is far better because you have the person that wants to look at a chainsaw, who wants to look at ride-ons. What we have seen here today with ride-ons has been phenomenal. I've got three or four demonstrations and pretty sure I've sold one, we've sold two chainsaws and a brush cutter. It's been well worth us being here."
Gordon McCallum of Blenheim travelled over to attend the field day and commented how important it was to attend days such as these, and a highlight for him was to have a couple returning, who bought 12 of his fly traps last season, "and now all their neighbours are using them, and she said they only had one flystruck lamb last season."
Fish and Game were also present and among other things, had on display a fish tank containing a live collection of introduced exotic fish pests.
