Message from the President

On behalf of my fellow Committee members I welcome this opportunity to invite your attendance at the 2009 Elmore Field Days which will be our 46^th consecutive annual staging.

Most of the indicators are positive with another strong response from our Exhibitors with the "site fully booked sign" in place again early this year.

It has always been our policy to provide a field days program that is highly relevant to the region and the types of farming ventures that are undertaken in our catchment area.

As always external factors weigh heavily on the outlook.

Many of these are positive at present – we have seen our local district planting season begin with good rainfall, while prices for most grains and livestock are solid and looking promising for the future.

We have concern however for our dairy farming colleagues who currently see prices for their milk which are unprofitable, and with limited water in our storages irrigation farming continues to be under pressure.

The movements in the Australian dollar exchange rate and their relatively high level currently challenges all exporters.

High input costs, especially for fuel, remain a major concern to everyone involved in agriculture as well as the wider community.

As a Committee we devote a lot of time each year to creating features which we consider will be of positive value and relevance to our visitors to the field days.

Our feature "Capitalising on a Climate of Change" continues to be highly relevant in the advancements in alternative energy and their potential for application on farms and in rural communities.

This feature will again be worthy of your time to visit this year as will the information that is available on carbon emissions, carbon trading and carbon credits as these issues will impact on agriculture in the relatively short term.

Our General Interest Pavilion and features like our Ag Art Wear® Competition round out the interest for all members of the family.

In the Shearing Shed this year we will also have the first round of information from our Ewes for the Future Trial designed to give information on the best lamb mothers from five sheep breeds, their productivity and the value of the lambs produced.

I am confident in the value of the information that will be available over our usual three days from our static display sites, our in-field machinery demonstrations and the goods and services presented that will fulfil almost any requirement.

I have previously indicated the effort which has gone into the continuing development of our Elmore Events Centre.

In addition to providing the home and venue for the field days we continue to develop the Elmore Equestrian Park as a complementary project that is welcomed by the equestrian interests, horse and pony clubs throughout the north central area.

We continue to invite interest in hiring the facilities on the site and this use is slowly gaining momentum.

In the lead up to this years Field Days and to take account of the increasing office, administration and storage space required, we have commenced the relocation of our town office to the Elmore Events Centre to create a permanent centralised services and operations facility.

I invite your attendance at our 46th annual Elmore Field Days and along with my Committee we all look positively at the challenges we encounter in our rural lifestyles and businesses.

Darren Trewick - President