Leading agricultural field days, AgQuip, has been postponed in response to the COVID-19 outbreak in New South Wales.
The annual event was originally scheduled to be held in Gunnedah from August 17 to 19, 2021. This marks the second year in a row that the event had to be rescheduled or cancelled due to the pandemic.
No new dates have been fixed for the event at this stage, with organisers hoping to still be able to hold the event some time later in the year.
“We will be consulting with our AgQuip exhibitors and with the understanding of local, state, and national calendar of events,” said the organisers, ACM Rural Events, in a statement.
“From the ACM Rural Events team, we thank our AgQuip exhibitors and regional and rural communities for their continued support and understanding during this uncertain time.”
In the meantime, organisers of the Henty Machinery Field Days (HMFD) are still pushing ahead with planning for this year’s event, scheduled to be held from September 21 to 23 this year in Henty (NSW).
“Agriculture is an important and essential industry and farmers and agri-businesses need to be networking, researching, and buying,” said HMFD chief executive officer, Belinda Anderson.
“Henty Machinery Field Days will provide a safe environment for that to occur.”
She said public entry would operate predominantly on a contactless system with patrons strongly encouraged to pre-purchase tickets online and will be required to scan a QR code at the entrance gates. Exhibitors are also encouraged to provide EFTPOS facilities for their customers for contactless payments of goods.
She added there will be an additional level of sanitisation of amenities and COVID Marshalls to monitor social distancing in order to protect the health of patrons, exhibitors, volunteers and staff.
Stay tuned for further updates on both events.