Fieldays attendance up 10pc on day two

Fieldays attendance is expected to total 128,000 to 130,000 people this year. Photo / Alan Gibson

Attendance at Fieldays on day two of the four-day agricultural event was up 10 per cent on the same day last year at 32,260, chief executive Peter Nation said.

So far, attendance is running at 3,200 ahead of this time last year.

Fieldays' general commercial manager Nick Droomgool said he expected attendance to total 128,000 to 130,000 - which would be just short of the record attendance of 131,629 in 2008 - over the four day event.

Nation told a news conference that feedback from exhibitors had so far been positive. He said a dairy farm supply company had reported strong sales, contrary to its own expectations.

"Dairy farmers have corrected their financial positions quite quickly," he said.

"They have got their cost of production under control very fast and have gone back to that grass fed model," he said. "Now they are in a position to be financially positive to invest in or repair product," Nation said.

"All they need to do is tweak their costs and suddenly they cash flow does not look too bad," he said.