Meet the man responsible of rounding up the more than 650 Agfest exhibitors

The unenviable task of rounding up more than 650 exhibitors at Agfest fell on former dairy farmer Shaun Schofield who admitted he is far more comfortable driving a tractor.

Currently living in Hobart and working as a harvesting contractor for FreshGro, his days are typically spent harvesting leafy greens in the morning and then working on paddock preparation for the next crop in the afternoon.

But for months of lead-up and then three big days he was fully focused on the field days as part of the leadership team that runs Agfest with military precision at Quercus Park, Carrick.

The 24-year-old Hagley Rural Youth member (Shaun hasn’t got around to switching groups just yet) grew up in the city but has spent much of his working life in the dairy industry near Hobart and in Meander in the north of the state.

Last year he was a Dairy Australia Ambassador and also joined a group of dairy farmers on the trip of a lifetime to Dublin, Ireland as part of the Tasmanian Young Dairy Network Tour.

Basically, Sean is always up for a challenge and after three years assisting the Agfest exhibitor manager, he finally took on the top job.

“Working with the management team inspired me to take on more responsibility and I was led into something that has proved really rewarding.”

Sean said the hardest thing about being Agfest exhibitor manager was the allocation process, mainly because it’s impossible to give everyone the site they want.

“Our exhibitor numbers were up a bit on last year and I describe the process of co-ordinatoring it all as an enjoyable challenge,” he said.

“Everyone co-operated really well so that makes it an enjoyable and fun event - although that first day was pretty cold!”

There’s only a few months before the call goes out for next year’s Agfest exhibitor applications from September 1 and there’s every chance Shaun will throw his hat in the ring.