BORENORE man Greg Elliott has been exhibiting at the Australian National Field Days for 30 years and said there have been major changes at his exhibit in that time.
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The Honda dealer said there has particularly been a shift in the types of vehicles people were looking for, particularly among older farmers.
“The changes here are massive, the whole demographic for field day participation has changed,” Mr Elliott said.
He said there has also been a shift in inquiries with a change from two wheel farm bikes to all terrain vehicles (ATVs) with roll bars and seat belts.
“It’s a whole generation of old farmers looking for farm mobility with ATVs, their farm bikes are long gone,” Mr Elliott said.
“It’s probably the older generation that are looking at more safe and secure farm transport, that seems to be where a lot of our farmers are looking, they still want the ATV mobility and agility but they want the safety too of a roll cage and seat belts.”
Among those who visited his exhibit in search of such vehicles were Kerry and Geoff Lindner of West Wyalong.
“I need to update and they are safer then the four-wheelers are and there is room for my wife and the dog,” Mr Lindner said.
”You can fit a bale of hay or a sheep on the back and it’s a bit of comfort.”
Mr Elliott, who runs Morris Motorcyles in Orange said along with the types of vehicles people inquire about there was also a change in the people inquiring and although it was still important to set up at the field days, it was no longer the sales opportunity that it used to be.
He said when he started, farmers used to come in on weekdays to see what motorbikes they had on offer but now there were fewer direct sales and inquiries and it was more about image.
“They had to come see us to get the information we had,” Mr Elliott said of high demand in the early days.
However, he said because many older farmers now have smart phones and internet access, it was easier for them to get informed.