Changing rural lifestyles and the allure of larger farming events such as national field days have been attributed as key drivers of the changes made to the Hawke's Bay A&P Show.
Former deputy chairman of the Hawke's Bay Regional Council and Hawke's Bay A&P Society Hawke's Bay on Show book author Ewan McGregor has said the biggest change in the past four decades had been the fall in farmer attendance.
"It's been dramatic. I attribute this to the rise of the Fieldays at Mystery Creek which started in 1969 and the field days at Feilding; they have comprehensive field days there and in this age farmers have been able to head out to them and see everything relating to farming, technology and the like, that they could possibly see.
The show used to be a major social event and the latest fashions were always worn. It was a real day out, or two days out, for the Hawke's Bay society. It's now nothing like that, nothing like that at all.
"No way can a provincial show, even a strong one like Hawke's Bay has been, match that."
Mr McGregor said farmer attendance numbers were nowhere near the amount they used to be and that this resulted in a "vicious circle" in which exhibitors and farmers gradually withdrew from the show.