17 June 2025

57th Fieldays Wraps Up at Mystery Creek

After four days of innovation, trade and entertainment, Fieldays 2025 has officially wrapped up, cementing its position as the Southern Hemisphere’s largest agricultural event.

This year’s theme, ‘Your Place’, transformed Mystery Creek into a pop-up city, drawing over 110,000 visitors through the gates. 

New Chief Executive Richard Lindroos was thrilled to deliver his first event at the helm of the not-for-profit organisation, New Zealand National Fieldays Society. “Although the weather was not always on our side this year, it didn’t deter our visitors who came prepared for the conditions,” said Lindroos.

“I think the industry as a whole is on the up. It felt really positive out there and early indications suggest that our exhibitors had a good event delivering real momentum for New Zealand’s primary and fibre industries, which is forecasted to reach a record $59.9 billion.” 

Confidence in the rural sector was apparent with exhibitors reporting good sales across a range of products and services. 

Kathryn Hayward, Senior Marketing Manager of JAC NZ said they exceeded their key objectives of increasing brand visibility and visitor engagement at the event. "Fieldays provided the ideal environment for high-quality conversations and brand experiences."

"Although our feet might disagree, we were sad to see the end of Fieldays after an awesome week in Mystery Creek". Hayward also noted that the brand campaigns, Pie Day Fridays, and promotion of JAC through the Fieldays gate prize saw a significant increase in awareness for JAC.

A strong international representation was also evident, with a total of 66 exhibitors, up from 49 last year. International representation also included 23 embassies and 1,054 supporting visa letters were provided.

“Globalisation is a key pillar for Fieldays and supporting our exhibitors in developing global connections and sharing our story on the world stage is a key aspect of the event,” said Lindroos.

Another strategic pillar is Education, which also saw an increase with 92 school groups pre-registering, up from 57 schools last year.  New features included Fieldays Tent Talks in association with the University of Waikato, Fieldays Drone Zone, and Fieldays Sector Spotlight-It's Wool. The Fieldays Rural Advocacy Hub, a collaboration between Fieldays and Federated Farmers, returned for its second year, again proving to be a critical platform for discussing the industry’s most important topics with 14 of parliament’s ministers speaking.

This year's Fieldays Innovation Award winners shone a spotlight on the agricultural industry's most promising ideas. Ruminant Biotech was the winner of the Prototype Award for its slow-release bolus, Emitless. Oamaru’s Alps2Ocean Foods Tapui Ltd won the Early-Stage Award with its product Mīti, which transforms surplus dairy calves into a world-first, shelf-stable, functional protein snack. CropX, from Wellington won the Growth & Scale Award with their agritech solution that provides insights to global growers.  

Hamilton’s St Paul's Collegiate School’s KiwiPrune team won the Fieldays Young Innovator Award for entrants 19 years old and under. KiwiPrune was designed and developed as part of the coursework for the AgriBusiness in Schools program to simplify the labour-intensive task of removing the plastic clips used to secure the Kiwi fruit vine. 

The Fieldays® Tractor Pull Competition, in association with PTS Logistics, celebrated 50 years, with contestants putting their machines to the test in challenging conditions, competing in various categories determined by tractor load weight, age and modifications. 

Other Fieldays staples, including Fencing and Excavators, provided thrilling competitions throughout the four days, with results available on the Fieldays website as soon as they come in. Joining the competition lineup for the first time was Red Bull Cut It, which proved to be a crowd favourite, with visitors checking out the fun atmosphere created by the Red Bull team alongside the New Zealand Lawn Mower Racing Association.

Over 150 volunteers helped make the event a success, along with staff, Partner One New Zealand, Premier Sponsor Case IH, family of sponsors and the 1,200 valued exhibitors. 

“We’re committed to growing Fieldays and look forward to reviewing this year’s event as we get underway with planning for next year,” said Lindroos. 

Lindroos has already made it clear he is looking for primary sector support. “Our call is not for handouts, but for hands joined together to take advantage of the opportunities and meet the challenges of the next five, ten, and twenty-five years.”

Event data will be released in the coming months, as planning begins for Fieldays 2026. Fieldays will be back at Mystery Creek in 12 months, from Wednesday, June 10 to Saturday, June 13, 2026.