The first day of Bendigo’s first Farm Security Expo has been hailed as a success, with many attendees surprised by the affordability of the the high-tech gadgets on show.
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Leichardt sheep and grain farmer Graeme Cornish was among those considering beefing up his security, and was pleased with how far a small amount of money could go.
“We’re not really chasing thousands of dollars worth of gear, but something that’s just going to be reliable,” he said.
“There’s nothing too frightening here at the moment, which is good.”
Mr Cornish said he was impressed with the various technologies on show.
“It’s bloody incredible what they’re thinking of,” he said.
“They’ve also got that little black box, you can bolt them to your machinery, a GPS-locator they’re called, and they’d be a good idea,” he said.
“We live fairly close to a major highway, and some of the bigger stuff isn’t cheap and insurance companies get a little emotional from time to time, so it’d be a good little investment.”
Heathcote leading senior constable Dan O’Bree, a driving force behind the expo, said the first day’s attendance had been good.
“It’s just been a steady flow of people through and most of the exhibitors look as though they’re talking to someone all the time,” he said.
“A lot of people are surprised at how reasonably priced it is, so it’s very accessible.”
Exhibitor Andy Nisbet of Bendigo’s Rodwells & Company echoed those sentiments.
“The last farmer that walked in, he was thinking thousands of dollars to set something up like this – it’s actually not that much so that’s where people start getting interested,” he said.
Despite only recently moving into the security side of farm supplies, Mr Nisbet said it had already yielded positive results.
“Recently we had a customer of ours that purchased one of the pretty basic cameras that takes continuous pictures and actually caught a guy in the act,” he said.
The expo continues today at the Bendigo Stadium.