National Agricultural Fieldays starts Wednesday with anticipation building to see how much farmers will spend.

Fieldays is traditionally the farmers' big ticket spending shop for new farm plant and machinery and vehicles.

A scene from Fieldays 2010.

'Fieldays is the barometer of farmer spending and this year the stakes are higher than usual,” says University of Waikato Institute for Business Research director Dr Stuart Locke.

The agricultural sector is booming, he says, with payouts to dairy farmers up, and all agricultural commodities experiencing excellent returns.
'So the million dollar question is: will farmers be opening their wallets at Fieldays, or will they be squirreling away cash to pay off mortgages and other debt?
'Now we just need to wait for the survey results, to see what the vote is.

'Will it be: give the money to the foreign-owned bank, spend the money on foreign-produced equipment, or buy the farm next door?”
Answers will be provided in the annual survey of Fieldays spending. The survey tracks purchases and orders taken by exhibitors – with a record number of exhibitors this year. There's confidence among suppliers, says Stuart.

He's picking some increase in equipment purchases this year as well as a steady continuation of debt payoff, while buying the farm next door will lift off in February next year.
The survey results will be released publicly the week after Fieldays.