Gallery - Agfest 2026

Mother’s Day present tragedies were averted, steam engine lovers had their fix and Tas Country gave away countless caps and drink holders at Agfest 2026 to those who put the Tas Country app on their device to keep up with agricultural and general news for free.

Nearly 56,000 visitors, near perfect weather and even better facilities this year at Quercus Park, Carrick made for another series of outstanding field days.

Rural Youth members rose to the occasion to make sure everything ran smoothly, dancing the last of 600 exhibitors off the site on Sunday.

While it wasn’t as big as the halcyon days pre-Covid, where attendance numbers pushed 70,000, the 44th Agfest contributed massively to the local economy, with visitors arriving from around the country to northern Tasmania.

Not immune to inflation and rising fuel prices, Agfest entry prices have increased incrementally in recent years since transitioning to an online-only ticketing model, with adult online single-day passes shifting from $25 in 2023 to $31 in 2025, reaching $32.65 this year.

Helicopter rides climbed from $50 in 2019 to $70 last year (Rotorlift) to $90 this time around (Unique Charters).

While patrons might not have had the expendable income of previous years the afternoon exodus each day was a procession of people with chainsaws on their shoulders, prams full of plants, socks and other goodies jammed in around small children and if you had a dollar for every plastic prodder (or whatever they were) you could have bought one of the hundreds of caravans that seemed to take over a good portion of the site.

Annual favourites of four-wheel-driving demos on the Peter Brock memorial course, the bullock display and plenty of musical entertainment in the central arena gave everyone a chance to stop and rest.

Agfest Committee chair Jesse McDonald and president Amber Bramich thanked the 600 exhibitors for their commitment at a networking event on the Friday night and expressed how pleased they were with the attendance and atmosphere at Agfest.

Site awards were bestowed upon winners Coastal Marine, Sustainable timber Tas, Midland Tractors, Aurora Energy, Joshy’s BBQ, Jo’s Joys and Adoreu Baby and Kids.

TasFarmers CEO Nathan Calman said this year’s Agfest had been a standout success, with strong crowds, increased exhibitor numbers, and overwhelming community support exceeding expectations throughout the week.

“This year has blown away all expectations, and the success of Agfest is built on the dedication of Rural Youth, volunteers, exhibitors, and the wider Tasmanian agricultural community,” Mr Calman said.

“This year’s event has highlighted the strength, confidence, and resilience of Tasmania’s ag sector, and we’ve seen outstanding support right across the site.

“Agfest continues to grow because of the commitment and passion of Rural Youth, who make it happen each and every year.”

Among the many competition highlights three teams entered the inaugural TKD Tradie Challenge - Beta Park, The Fumbles and William Adams, with Beta Park the winner. 

The playground equipment they built will now be donated to local play centres and Rural Youth is calling for expressions of interest.

The decorated gumboot competition was one of many fun displays in the central arena, with the top prize of two helicopter rides going to Rosabel and Everly Mihal of Hobart whose boots had a teddy bear’s picnic theme.

“We made each one look different to represent that everyone is different,” Rosabel said.

Scouts Tasmania “binfluencers” worked hard to help patrons sort waste correctly, reduce contamination in recycling bins and improve resource recovery outcomes across the event.

They were also able to raise funds from the thousands of containers collected to support Scout camps, equipment and youth programs across the state.

A strong field of 19 schools competed in the cattle handling with the overall winner being Yolla District School with Sheffield School runner-up.

Champion Beef Handler went to Ruby Rayner from Sheffield School with Meredith Dillon from Scottsdale High runner up.

Scottsdale also won the prize for Supreme Beef Exhibit.

There were 19 teams in the Rural Youth Junior Farmer competition which was won by Sheffield School’s team which not only excelled at electric fencing, ear tagging, fleece throwing and the quiz, but came out on top in the finals with included an irrigation task and birthing the TasTafe cow simulator.

In the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture Let it Grow contest where it was all about which school could grow the biggest, heaviest carrot in the state, Wynyard High School came out on top with their carrot weighing 181 grams.

Burnie High School was second with their carrot weighing 141 grams followed by Exeter Primary School at 121 grams.

The Soil Your Undies competition saw an interesting experiment for students to demonstrate soil health by burying some cotton undies and then digging them up weeks later to see how well they decomposed.

Undies champion was  Tasman District School followed by Clarendon Vale Primary School and Dominic College.