IN a blow to farmers and community groups, Mallee Machinery Field Days have been cancelled for the second year in a row.
The Speed field days, which were scheduled for August 4 and 5, were expected to attract more than 8500 visitors and 350 exhibitors, with an estimated $100 million worth of equipment and machinery on site.
The field day usually injects around $750,000 into the regional Victorian community each year.
Committee secretary Andrew McLean said the decision to cancel the event “hadn’t been taken lightly”, but due to Victoria’s coronavirus outbreak and low vaccination rates in the community, “our hands were tied”.
“A fair bit of work” had gone into collating applications for this year’s event, he said, and at least one exhibitor had been “packing the trailer ready to go” on Thursday when the statewide lockdown was announced.
But, due to border closures, some exhibitors would already have been prevented from travelling from NSW and Queensland, he said.
Mr McLean said the field days community group would also be affected by the cancellation and would miss out on vital fundraising income for the second year running.
“Twenty to twenty one community groups help us with catering and other jobs,” he said.
“They will miss out on the opportunity to fundraise.”
The decision to cancel the event had been made in a late night meeting on Thursday, he said, as farming commitments would prevent volunteers assisting with the event at a later date.
Brendan Williams has been a regular at the event for the past 25 years either as a visitor or exhibitor.
For the past six months he has been managing director of Rometron Australia, which import WEEDit technology in Australia.
“It’s a bugger for us because we have a new range of products with new features,” Mr Williams said.
“We’re trying to make our mark and get exposure to the new product.
“In the current climate, it’s difficult to get that exposure out there now.”
Mr Williams said he always enjoyed the Speed field days – it’s atmosphere and circular layout that gave equal prominence to exhibitors.
“It’s a great environment and people travel long distances to get there,” he said.
“It’s certainly a great tool for disseminating information.
“Everyone is so busy, so part of the trap is you don’t think about new things you could use on your farm.
“But, for farmers, they can pop into their ute, travel for a day and start to think about what’s new, what equipment you haven’t considered before, and spend time away from the farm.”
