Inside Out

A slight drizzle and a light southerly greeted us for day three (Friday) of National Fieldays but it certainly didn’t stop the foot traffic at our site.  While this year’s theme may be about the changing face of farming there are some things that will never change at Fieldays.  Like the early morning coffee to get the blood warmed up before the punters arrive and the networking around the hot food stalls as exhibitors compare notes on sales and activity from the last few days.  It’s all a strategic part of the Fieldays experience.
Innovation has definitely played a huge role at this year’s event.  The introduction of the NAIT regulations has driven interest in our EID and Weighing and Technology products and the Innovation Centre has provided a spectacular showcase for industry developments and inventions, all aimed at improving New Zealand farming practices.  Of course with the country’s research and development capabilities ranked 5th in the world we shouldn’t be too surprised about the concepts we see each year and the majority of the projects seem to be customer inspired.  Could this be the changing face of farming?  That as suppliers to New Zealand’s largest export industry we will become reliant on the farmer, the end user, to tell us what they need and want to make their life easier.  There’s certainly been some indication of that by the product range they’ve purchased this week.
Overall it has been a successful week on the Gallagher stand. At the end of today when the last punter heads through the gates there will still be a lot of work to complete. It will take a week or two to dismantle our site, we’ll review the list of customers wanting more information about our EID and weighing and technology product and we’ll make time to assess our 2012 campaign with the objective of enhancing next years.  But that can wait until next week – right now we’re celebrating the fact that Gallagher has contributed significantly to the changing face of farming just as we have been doing for nearly 75 years.