Mr Bahr, was elected at the co-operative’s annual general meeting on May 29, and joins chairman Ross Edwards, deputy chairmen Nigel Scheetz and Daryl Thomson, and directors John Maher, Matthew Noll and Mark Hasler.

Rohan is a second generation board director with his father Neil having a 40 year plus involvement with the HMFD co-operative and board.

He and wife Kellie farm 1550 hectares near Henty, comprising 850ha of cereal and oilseed crops, and run a self-replacing flock of 2800 Merino ewes.

He concedes to never missing a field day during his lifetime and as an adult, has spent the event volunteering in the catering sheds or sourcing a major piece of equipment for the farm.

He has fond childhood memories of helping to prepare the grounds in the mid 1970s when the co-operative moved to a new permanent site on the Cookardinia Road.

“In those days, that was our family life – every Saturday morning Dad would pack up and take his tractor over to the field day site,’’ he said.

As Neil’s board involvement increased, Mr Bahr took up the workload on the farm and only joined the HMFD Co-operative a decade ago.

“It’s funny how it’s changed – Dad gave up the field days and unexpectedly I got more involved,’’ he said.

“I felt it was a local event needing local people around it,’’  he said. 

Mr Bahr believes he brings local knowledge of the southern NSW and Riverina community volunteer groups working at the field days to the board table.

He said field days had a positive future but must remain relevant to a rapidly changing and evolving agricultural industry.

“We have to be on the ball with technology, and be open to what people want to see at the field days,’’ he said.

“A lot of people use the internet for their research but there is nothing quite like sitting on machinery and touching a few buttons.

“If we can have the latest and greatest agricultural products there, we will keep getting people along,’’ Mr Bahr said.