A long-time vendor which had one of its best Fieldays in 22 years says using the event for more than just sales is the key to success.

In response to some vendors expressing disappointment in visitor numbers – about 75,000 people walked through the gates across the four days compared to 132,776 in 2021 and 128,747 in 2019 – AgriSea says success cannot be judged just by visitors through the gate.

The winner of the Hi Tech Maori Company of the Year award was busy networking, team building, sharing insights as invited guests on various Fieldays panels and promoting its new animal health product, Fortress.

“We had a really busy time and a lot of fun,” says AgriSea chief innovation officer Tane Bradley.

“It was one of our most successful Fieldays in 22 years and for us it’s about the long game.

“We use Fieldays as a great opportunity to network, to spend time with universities and other research partners and to catch up with suppliers - and all of these great people were in the space.

“We also had some solid enquiry from massive farms and our sales reps loved it. We knew it wasn’t going to be a typical Mystery Creek sales time because of the season but we were really excited to introduce our new product Fortress and to catch up as a team.”

Bradley said the agribusiness that specialises in seaweed for animal and soil health said the time of year for Fieldays was fitting for AgriSea’s new product launch, given that it’s going into summer and Fortress is an animal health product that assists animals stress levels due to heat.

AgriSea had the Minister of Agriculture Damian O’Connor officiate at the ribbon cutting for its seaweed growing trial - a bioremedial trial using algae to clean up river water - and which was launched inside the innovation hub with live images of the trial site on the Hauraki Plains near Kopu.

Minister O’Connor says those at the forefront of innovation need “commitment and courage” to invest capital into environmentally positive solutions.

Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor, Clare Bradley (AgriSea), Marie Magnusson (UoW), and Taylor Moore (AgriSea) at the Innovation stand at Fieldays.

He praises AgriSea for its bioremediation trial and focus on a circular economy using seaweed sustainably for soil health.

“There’s nothing wrong with nutrients, we pour nutrients on the paddock to grow grass and make food, but some of them end up in the wrong place,” says O’Connor.

“The wrong nutrients in the wrong place is something we’re all trying to address.”

AgriSea invited the team from Our Land Our Water, who are partners in a $2.7 million project Rere ki Uta Rere ki Tai, to promote a shift nationwide towards regenerative agriculture with healthy soils at the centre of farming.