Federated Farmers: Visit Hawke's Bay Royal A&P Show to see best of rural NZ

Federated Farmers Hawke's Bay new provincial president Jim Galloway

It's not all about pottles of hot chips and making sure your child does not vomit on the crowd below the ferris wheel they insisted they go on.

I encourage every single person living in Hawke's Bay to come and get in touch with rural New Zealand at this week's No1 agriculture show.

This week the team and I will be at the Royal A&P Show New Zealand, which is hosted by the Hawke's Bay A&P Society, and doing what we do well, representing farming at its best.
Federated Farmers Hawke's Bay new provincial president Jim Galloway will be mingling with other farming and business leaders.

A&P shows nationwide represent a learning opportunity for urban and rural alike.
These shows are the best way to bring rural and urban together and to show people the culture and the processes involved in creating their favourite meals.

Rural people get to show off their skills in a range of competitions and educate their urban counterparts in everything from identifying mastitis on a cow's udder, the art of using fruit scrap to make a new variety of cider, and how to construct a business that is environmentally friendly or able to adapt to new environmental standards as new regulations arise.

Agriculture and horticulture are major employers in the Bay so our local economy and communities are reliant on them to pay the bills and function.

The more opportunities agriculture and horticulture have to help demystify what goes on in the industries the better. If the public had a better understanding of the food production processes they would be able to better decipher the "dog whistling" that occurs in some environmental and business reports.

Salli Baldock is a Hawke's Bay territory manager for Federated Farmers