Feature: Australia's agriculture showcased to city slickers at annual fair

City slickers are being taught a thing or two at Australia's largest agriculture show over the Easter period, with thousands of Australian producers showcasing their produce to the expected 850,000 person crowd.

Sydney's Royal Easter Show, established in 1823 and currently the world's sixth largest annual fair, is not just a rural Australia meets the "Big Smoke" event, but also one of the most prestigious events for the nation's agricultural producers, where winning a prize helps farm-gate prices.

"If you're winning awards, people think that's good so you hope that flows on through," Antony Frost from Talabah Merino Stud, told Xinhua.

Frost was at the Royal Easter Show aiding his father-in-law win the prestigious Stonehaven Cup for best exhibit of five merinos in his first showing at the show for 19 years.

The winner is judged off a group of five Merino sheep, three rams (male sheep) and two ewes (female sheep).

"It's a brilliant thing to win something like that and it means a lot to the stud," Frost said.

"It was a very popular win because (father-in-law) has been a very influential man in the industry."

Australian producers desire to win the accolades to increase market value is having a positive effect on the industry, leading to higher productive sheep and "hopefully" more attractive wool for buyers and processors overseas, Australian Wool Exchange chief executive Mark Grave told Xinhua.

In export terms, Chinese buyers have consumed 65 percent to 75 percent of the Australia's wool exports, "a very significant player for us," Grave said, adding Australia's wool industry sets the market tone with strength in the auction house equating to good prices globally.

"Over the two days so far, we've had somewhere around 15 to 16 million Australian) dollars of wool sold (just at Sydney's Royal Easter Show), but we also have wool sales going on in Melbourne and in Fremantle at the same time," Grave said, adding the sales have been strong.

"We often worry about the strength of the Australian dollar," Grave said. In historical terms a higher Australian dollar equates to a weak market.

"But that's not the case at the moment. We're seeing a fairly strong dollar and the market is also strong."

Heightened risk sentiment aiding a rally in commodities, encouraging domestic data and a weak U.S. dollar following the more dovish than expected U.S. Federal Reserve March policy statement has seen the local unit surge almost five U.S. cents in the past three weeks from lows of 71.26 U.S. cents.

At 16:50 local time on Thursday, the Australian dollar was trading at 74.96 U.S. cents.

Grave suggests buyer interest is having a positive effect on the wool market due to the two-week closure over the Easter recess.

The direct contact between public and industry is what makes the annual event, bring greater insights into Australia's agriculture sector on the verge of a boom cycle to accommodate demands for high quality produce from the rising Asian middle class.

By showcasing the wool auction, the general public gets a glimpse into the production, selling and trading of wool in the one center, rather than across many hundreds, if not thousands of kilometers.

"This is a really great showcase for the industry to show what we do as a profession, not only just (in Australia), but also in export terms of which China is a major player," Grave said.

The seductive city-meets-country atmosphere however is playing havoc on Sydney's schools as, unusually, Australia's school vacation period does not coincide with the 2016 Easter celebrations.

"It's really interesting," Australian grade 11 student Shae Pace, who skipped school with her two friends to attend the show, told Xinhua.

The lack of investment in agriculture education in Australian schools is telling however despite the sector destined to provide a base platform for future economic growth.

"We don't do that sort of stuff at our school so we were really interested," Pace said.

For others however, the show is an annual event on the family calendar for the carnival rides, merchandise or "show bags", and petting the cheeky animals of course.

"The kids love it," Renee Holmes, who attended the annual event with husband Damien and young daughter Chloe said.

"The kids want to come here all the time... it's a good day out."

The Royal Easter Show runs the week either side of the Easter celebration period. In 2016, the event concludes on March 30. Endit