Fieldays seeks millions to futureproof Mystery Creek
Friday, 10 October 2025
There’ll be no more sloshing about in muddy gumboots, says the Fieldays chief executive.
Home of the biggest national ag event, Fieldays Society is seeking government co-investment, in the millions, to speed up infrastructure upgrades at Mystery Creek.
The New Zealand National Fieldays Society hosted a function on Tuesday at Parliament to urge central government and industry leaders to invest in the future of Fieldays and the Mystery Creek Events Centre.
Board chairperson Jenni Vernon and chief executive Richard Lindroos said Fieldays contributes over $500 million a year to the economy and needs sustained funding to continue its work in innovation, education, and globalisation.
Lindroos, who celebrates six months in the job on Monday, says government backing would allow them to move from gradual “step change” improvements to “transformational change.”
“Everyone acknowledges the contribution we have to society. So why can't we just make it a bit easier for us to keep doing that?”
“We spend millions of dollars in improving our site every year… But the difference is, we can make small step change.”
“We’re looking for faster transformational change.”
“It might take us 15 years to get the money to build another pavilion or 20 years to do all the roads.
“If there was a way where central government could support us, it may mean that that’s in 5 years.”
Fieldays Society wants funding support to accelerate infrastructure and site upgrades that the society currently pays for itself.
When asked how much they were asking for, Lindroos replied, “how long is a piece of string?”
“We spend multi-millions a year on capital improvements,” he said.
“It's not earth shattering numbers, but it is million dollar investments in our site every year.”
“If you built another pavilion, that's 70, probably 80 million.”
“We're not at that stage.
“What we're saying is we spend every year improving the site, but we need to do more and we're inviting government and our stakeholders to join with us, and I think with good reason.”
“There's not many sites of this size in New Zealand which deliver what we want.”
The site is now 57 years old, and Lindroos said it needs significant reinvestment to remain “world-leading” for the next 50 years.
The society’s master plan focuses on four key areas: water, energy, buildings, and the overall visitor experience.
That includes upgrading pipes, drainage and toilets, improving energy systems with solar power, water capture and native restoration, and building modern, fit-for-purpose event facilities.
“It's energy use, solar, water capture and native restoration.
“We're really keen to do that.
“So we've just gone out and we’re just saying that, hey, we're doing this.
“Who's coming with us on that?”
The plan also aims to improve roads, lighting, parking and access to make it easier for people to get in and out of the site, while enhancing the overall experience for exhibitors and visitors.
Parking on paddocks, and getting muddy traipsing to the Fieldays in the middle of Winter could be things of the past too.
“We can asphalt, we can actually improve that.”
He said draining, and stone chips roads entering the venue would mean a “far better experience”.
Lindroos said the goal is to modernise and cluster facilities for greater efficiency, create a more user-friendly venue, and make it possible to host multiple or larger events beyond Fieldays itself, including “more than one event at the same time.”
“If you had permanent buildings which are more attractive to hires, you wouldn’t have to have so much temporary builds.”
For Fieldays, it takes two months to build the venue, he said.
With permanent buildings, which are more attractive to hirers, you wouldn't have to have so much temporary builds, he said.