Fieldays record turnout comes with growing pains

Fieldays organisers say a major challenge this year was so much growth, something they are already starting to tackle for next year.

Fieldays 2026 brought more than 132,000 visitors - with the largest opening day attendance in the event's recent history.

The agriculture event held in Waikato each year showcases farm products, ranging from classic tractors to the newest innovations.

"Gone are the days of arriving at Fieldays with one person in the car," Fieldays Society chief executive Richard Lindroos told RNZ.

Exhibitor and vendor sites were sold out a month before the event, with 1100 stalls on display.

"When you have waiting lists for people wanting to exhibit and when you have queues of people down the road wanting to attend, those are issues about growth."

He said organisers had begun planning how to better utilise space for next year.

Fieldays spent $3.2 million this year on a new water reticulation system to better accommodate the large crowds, Lindroos said. Their next infrastructure build would be around energy resilience and energy security.

High fuel prices didn't keep visitors away. Public transport was up slightly more than usual, with about 18,000 people moving on public transport from Greater Waikato region.

However, Lindroos had expected public transport use to be higher. Months ago, the team had prepared for "modified" Fieldays to accommodate high fuel prices, but these issues never came to fruition.

The turnout had also been credited to the current buoyant rural economy, with farmers in a good spending moods.

In April, dairy giant Fonterra's thousands of shareholders received payouts, following a $4.2 billion sale of its consumer brands business of well-known products like Anchor butter and Mainland cheese.

Farmers are using the payouts to invest in long-term business decisions and repaying debts, with debts falling almost $5 billion since its 2018 peak.

Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford noticed spending was up at this year's Fieldays as a result of the payouts. He noticed his peers investing in new machinery, planning for the long-term.

"It was really awesome to see the sector humming again," Langford said.

Clothing tents were also full at all times, with small ticket items on the up as well, he said. Langford happily bought himself a new raincoat.

"It was great to see all the tents full, the laughs, the smiles, everyone connecting."

'Nearly the full cabinet were here'

Among the growing crowd were many politicians across political parties, campaigning for the upcoming election.

Lindroos noticed more politicians at the event than usual.

"We had, in fact, nearly the full cabinet were here," he said. "Only a couple of ministers were missing."

National's Todd McClay spoke at several events over the four days, and announced that meat and wool export revenue climbed 14 percent.

"The rural vote is important, but this is an event that brings town and country together," Lindroos said.

"It's the direct marketing to your voters in election year, and it gives people opportunity to have those conversations they want to have and connect with the politicians."

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