Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud opened the event outside the Moore Pavilion on Wednesday morning.

Field days president Peter Moore addressed the crowd and gave a brief history of the event before Mr Littleproud took to the stage.

“It’s a real honour for me to come to these sort of days, to listen and see real stories from real farmers and those in the industry,” Mr Littleproud said.

“Being able to come to these days and have a look around is something that really blows my hair back.

“To you Pete and your committee, can I say well done. This is done by volunteers. No one should take for granted the amount of work these people put in.

“They have the pride and passion, not only in agriculture but in your community and the part it plays in agriculture and in this nation’s economy.

“We are doing the heavy lifting in terms of agriculture in an economic sense – we are the engine room of this nation.

“We have a great story to tell, and we need to be proud of that. We need to walk out of places like this with heads held high and tell metropolitan Australia exactly what we’re doing out here for them.

“Days like this bring those great innovators and producers together so that we have a better industry.”

Mr Moore said the field days started small, but had grown enormously.

“This field days started on the idea for farmers to gather and be given an opportunity to see the latest the agriculture manufacturers had to offer,” he said.

“That idea continues today.

“It’s grown to be the largest trade expo in western Victoria, it covers more than 40 acres, has permanent staff, large exhibition buildings, and sees different events each year.

“We’re 56 years old, and still going strong.”