SOCIAL PICTURES: Farmers and families from all over WA enjoy Dowerin GWN7 Machinery Field Days

Thousands of farmers and families from across WA gathered in the Wheatbelt town of Dowerin last week for the State’s biggest agricultural field day. In it’s 58th year, the Dowerin GWN7 Machinery Field Days brought punters the biggest and best in agriculture, with a sell-out 500 exhibitors showcasing everything from machinery and agtech to stockyards and desalination units across the two-day event. The lifestyle pavilions also gave revellers a chance to taste homegrown produce and some of WA’s finest wines, beers, ciders and gins, as well as peruse jewellery, garden art and other wares produced by WA artisans. The team of collectors at TracMac put on a show, whirring up their vintage machines for excited crowds, while the sheep dog trials and Young Farmers Challenge got some friendly competition going. While beanies, gloves and puffer jackets were the attire of choice during the chilly mornings, the sun came out and defrosted field day goers by lunch time. This year’s theme was growing industry, seeding connections and cultivating communities. Spirits were high among both attendees and exhibitors, buoyed by last year’s record 24Mt harvest, with predictions pointing towards a bumper 20Mt crop for 2022/23 following widespread rain across much of the State’s grain growing regions. There were plenty of akubras, work boots and flannelette shirts among the crowd, with one sponsor at the Bringing Dowerin Downtown Perth launch the day prior joking it was the “biggest congregation of RMs in the Southern Hemisphere”.