The largest agribusiness exhibition in the southern hemisphere, which runs until Saturday, is a bellwether of the wider New Zealand agricultural scene.
Attendance at Fieldays could be a good guide to national figures on things like wholesale sales of basic materials and machinery and equipment. Numbers were even positively correlated to nationwide farm sales, BNZ's rural wrap said.
In 2008, when attendance rose to an all-time record of 131,629, annual growth in wholesale sales of basic materials peaked shortly after at more than 13% and machinery and equipment sales growth peaked just beforehand at more than 9%.
That was before the global financial crisis swept through town and country, battering commodity prices.
Fieldays attendance reflected the pain, falling 11% to 117,000 in 2009. Basic materials sales slumped 13% shortly after, while machinery and equipment sales eventually bottomed out some time later, more than 8% down.
Last year saw some recovery in attendance, with visitor numbers picking back up to more than 122,000 when confidence improved a little as commodity prices prices started bouncing back. That was about the same time as basic material and machinery and equipment sales stabilised.
Attendance was anticipated to be up again this year given further, and widespread, strength in commodity prices over the past 12 months.
While there seemed to be a general perception that farmer spending was flat, as focus was on debt repayment, the BNZ suggested more spending was going on, than many seemed to think.
Attendance in the high 120,000s would indicate a solid lift in farmers' propensity to spend and further growth in wholesale sales.
More people turning up did not necessarily mean they opened their wallets "but it's at least a hint that they might".
International business connections made at last year's event have resulted in New Zealand companies launching a range of rural products into markets which included Germany, the United States and central America, Fieldays international agribusiness manager Terry Blackler said.
More than 250 overseas business people were confirmed to visit this year's event, including delegations from China, Malaysia, Australia, Japan, Ireland, Chile and Germany.
