"I'm still making progress, but it's taking longer than expected," Motueka farmer Lester Rowntree said. "The outlook is positive and as soon as the ducks are all lined up in a row, we can get under way."
He needed investors to put in $2 million, "but it's a terrible time to be doing business".
Mr Rowntree said there was no suggestion of abandoning the ambitious project, or breaking it into stages.
"We have to do it in one big hit and do the whole thing, not just bits and pieces - that would undervalue the project."
The New Zealand Heritage Farm Show complex will include an agridome, bullock teams, blade shearing, chaff-cutting, horse and wagon teams in action, and a museum of farm machinery.
A heritage farm show would also include demonstrations of flax milling and flour milling, as well as other items of vintage machinery in action. A farrier, wheelwright and blacksmith would also be on site.
The first sod on the 5.5ha site was turned in October last year by teams of horses and oxen, towing vintage ploughs.
Resource consent for the project was granted in April 2010, after a hearing before an independent commissioner. Mr Rowntree estimated the venture would attract up to 1000 visitors a day at peak times.
In 2009, he was granted consent from the Minister of Conservation to lease some of the land at the racecourse. He was still optimistic about the venture getting under way soon.
"We had two major investors lined up, but they changed their minds and now we have to get more people interested. I've got my share of the money sorted, but I just need to get more shareholders involved, who have the cold, hard cash.
"It could happen any day. I'm negotiating with a couple of people right now. All the time we're making progress on the site, slowly. The building site is all prepared and there's grass planted in the paddocks."
