The Fieldays Hauora Taiwhenua Health and Wellbeing Hub is highly demanded by visitors so the Fieldays Society increased its size this year. Photo / Supplied
The Fieldays Hauora Taiwhenua Health and Wellbeing Hub proves to be so popular that it will be triple in size for this year's event.
The health and wellbeing initiative has been a staple at Fieldays for five years now and was always in massive demand.
The hub is a one-stop shop for everything related to physical and mental health and wellbeing where visitors can receive free health advice and a range of checkups.
The hub offers blood pressure checks, blood sugar level testing, hepatitis C testing, and skin cancer spot checks amongst other things.
Last year, the hub gave over 722 blood pressure checks, 334 kidney health checks and 673 skin spot checks, of which 54 were found to be suspicious and needed further testing.
NZ National Fieldays Society chief executive Peter Nation says the society had increased the size of the hub because there was so much interest in the checkups.
"We're so pleased to see such a huge amount of interest from our visitors. Part of the growth is due to an increase in the neurological section of the hub, which sees several organisations situated together to focus on this key health issue."
Nation says ensuring that rural communities have the same health opportunities as those living in urban areas has always been a cornerstone for the society.
"It can be difficult to get people from our ... rural communities in to see medical professionals and that's an issue that we really focus on when building this hub," Nation says.
"Too often we hear these stories of people in our rural communities not taking the time to see a doctor or health professional because they live so remotely or are too busy on the farm."
The Fieldays Hauora Taiwhenua Health and Wellbeing Hub will be located near the intersection of E Street and N Road at Mystery Creek from November 30 to December 3.
Nation encourages everyone to take the opportunity to get a check-up at Fieldays this year.
"We believe that the most important asset on any farm are the people that work on it," Nation says.
"We suspect you will always make time for a WOF or service for your vehicles, now this is your turn for a WOF."
Meanwhile, a new addition to the Fieldays premier sponsor family is American farming and tractor brand Case IH.
Nation says the "alignment" between Fieldays and the tractor and equipment manufacturer was "'the beginning of an exciting relationship".
"Case IH has been a name synonymous with excellence in the agricultural sector for many years. They are one of the most innovative agricultural brands in the world ... I am so pleased to be welcoming them into our family of supporters," Nation says.
Case IH Australia/New Zealand general manager Pete McCann says: "It's an exciting opportunity for Case IH to be involved with such an iconic event on the New Zealand agricultural calendar and we look forward to working with the organisers to bring as much as we can to [the] event."
Case IH offers a full range of agriculture and farm tractors along with superior harvest equipment. The company prides itself with providing innovative products and market-leading technology to maximise productivity.
Nation says this was a commitment that perfectly reflects the Fieldays strategic pillars of education, innovation and globalisation.
"We can't wait to see how our premier sponsorship develops over the coming years," says Nation.
You can find Case IH on site M30 at Fieldays.
Fieldays' other key partners include Hyundai, the Ministry of Primary Industries and Vodafone.
The initiative gets farmers off the farm and into the water.