Every year in June, Mystery Creek near Hamilton is the place to go for farmers and city people interested in the rural community. This year is the 44th year for the New Zealand National Agriculture Fieldays. The event opened today and continues until Saturday. Today about 27,000 people attended. In total for the four days last year, 117,495 people attended. It is the biggest event of this kind held in the Southern Hemisphere. Farmers from all over New Zealand like to attend. International visitors also find it interesting.
There are more than 1,000 exhibitors. They show the latest farm machinery: tractors, farm bikes, chain saws, irrigators, hay makers, milking machines and so on. It is a good opportunity for farmers to look at machines that they need to buy in the future. There are opportunities for farmers to learn new methods of farming, through demonstrations and lectures. There are also opportunities for farmers to show their skills in competitions like building a fence or controlling their sheep dogs.
And there are opportunities for city people to learn more about what farmers do.
Vocabulary
Southern Hemisphere – all the countries south of the equator
irrigators – spray water on the land
demonstration – show people how something is done eg. cooking demonstrations