People from all areas of the arable industry converged on Mid Canterbury farmland last week to catch the latest news on arable research, cultivars, chemicals, fertiliser and machinery.
The Foundation for Arable Research's Crops 2014 field day at Chertsey, north of Ashburton, drew more than 600 people from throughout New Zealand and Australia, making it the largest industry event of its type in the country.
Chief executive Nick Pyke said the day surpassed all previous foundation events.
''We worked pretty hard to get the programme mix right and feedback to date suggests that the range of agronomy, technology and environmental presentations was spot on,'' he said.
Speakers included Patrick Stephenson from the UK's National Institute of Agricultural Botany and John Kirkegaard from Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, who drew big crowds when they spoke on cereal yields and break crops respectively.
Issues covered during the day included reducing spray drift, herbicide resistance, wheat row spacing, sowing dates and rates for ryegrass, irrigation management of specific crops, management of the tomato potato psyllid, yields for maize silage, advances in barley agronomy and a system to stabilise irrigators.