Big equipment draws large crowds

NSW Premier Chris Minns with students from Tamworth’s Calrossy Anglican School and principal David Smith at AgQuip 2024.

Aon AgQuip 2024 has wrapped for another year, with tens of thousands of visitors passing through the gates and exhibitors receiving good interest across a range of products and services.

NSW Premier Chris Minns and NSW Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty joined the field day celebrations on Thursday, August 22, visiting some of the more than 2500 exhibitors at the 2024 event, held at Gunnedah in NSW.

They also met many attendees and enjoyed one of AgQuip’s famous steak sandwiches, cooked by Calrossy Anglican School students volunteering on the Shorthorn breeders’ stand.

It's the final event on this year’s ACM Agri Events calendar, following AgSmart Connect in Tamworth in March and Elders FarmFest at Toowoomba in June.

Dates for next year’s field day events were also announced, with Elders FarmFest 2025 running from June 3 to 5 and Aon AgQuip from August 19 to 21. FarmFest is marking its 50th anniversary next year, and planning is already under way to celebrate such a significant milestone.

“It’s been another busy, but very successful field day season for our ACM Events team and we couldn’t be prouder of the outstanding outcomes for our exhibitors, and also for the industry, with our three events showcasing the latest and the best within the agriculture sector, and generating so much interest in what our producers and agribusinesses are achieving,” ACM Agri general manager Craig Chapman said.

“Our field days continue to attract big crowds and the interest of thousands of businesses from right across Australia.”

More than 50,000 visitors passed through the gates of Aon AgQuip this year, on par with previous years’ crowds.

Craig said attendance levels remained strong year-on-year, with a visitor survey this year showing more than half of attendees lived within 200km of the AgQuip site and about 15 per cent travelling from greater than 400km away to attend.

Three quarters of visitors have been to AgQuip three times or more and more than half of attendees this year were typically at the event to make a particular purchase.

At the AgSmart Connect Hub, where ACM continues to invest in the future of farming, attendees had access to two days’ of seminar presentations from some of the nation’s leading agri-innovation experts on the likes of carbon farming, remote monitoring, telecommunications, IoT and data.

Anyone interested in seeing any of the sessions can revisit the presentations at: https://www.theland.com.au/story/8733919/watch-live-industry-leaders-at-agsmart-connect-2025-agri-tech-event

“ACM Agri Events is committed to the ongoing growth and evolution of Australia’s thriving agriculture industry, and is so proud to be able to contribute with the staging of these important field day events, with a real focus on continued investment in the critical agri-tech sector,” Craig said.

“ACM would like to thank everyone who supported AgSmart Connect, Elders FarmFest and Aon AgQuip this year, and we hope to see you all again in 2025.”