If you take away something they continually bag they will decide they actually liked it.

As it was with the Henty Machinery Field Days theme song.

For years people complained about the jingle when it was heard on the electronic media, whinging that it should be changed and why did they have to play it so often and so on.

But as soon as the board decided to change it and commission a new song all hell broke loose.

“It’s part of tradition”, “I look forward to hearing it every year”, “When I hear it then I know to start getting ready for the field days” and “I love that tune, can I buy it on CD?” — the suddenly deprived zealots cried.

Needless to say, the tune was back on deck the following year.

Only to then be followed by claims such as “I thought we had finally got rid of it”, “Who made the decision to bring it back” and “I really liked the new song”.

Most people know the tune but, like the second verse of Advance Australia Fair, some people are forced to hum along because they slip up on a couple of the lyrics.

Perhaps the lesson is that there are some things we don’t want to change, that we like the security of consistency.

And certainly that might be true of some of the older farmers, who can be pretty much stuck in their ways.

But the younger generations coming through are most definitely not.

Some of the equipment on show over the next three days is truly amazing and will feature technology such as robotics, unmanned helicopters, sensors and so much more.

They are not toys, but initiatives which will help Australia agriculture produce more and compete at a global level.

At the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resources Economics and Sciences Regional Outlook Conference in Wodonga on Thursday, the organisation’s chief commodity analyst Jammie Penm said Australian farmers were at the forefront of the use of technology.

“But they need to do more,” he said.

The beauty of the field days is that it brings the bushies and the townies together.

For the farmers it’s a chance to keep up to date with the latest innovations and for the town folk it’s a chance to have a day out and learn a bit about the industry that will one day decide Australia’s future.

Now, for the latter group, that’s not likely to include a whole lot of time spent on headers and scrapers and big cultivators or commodity outlooks or the latest thing in livestock yards.

But they will have to walk past these things and might be tempted to ask the odd question as they go in search of bargains in hats, boots, belts, shirts, pants, lawnmowers, security equipment for their homes, fishing tackle and check out the latest in wool fibre fashion (mainly the females I would think) and a wide range of tucker at the Farm Gate Kitchen.

And that’s before they start on the sausagess, steak sangers, pies, hamburgers and a wide range of coffees.

Of course, us townies must eat as much food as we can at all the community tents, because the money they raise goes to supporting many events and organisations throughout the district.

And I’m happy to take one for the team in an effort to find out who makes the best tucker at the event.

The biggest problem with the field days is the fact you just can’t see everything in just one day — although if a bloke had any brains he would organise somewhere to stay at Henty and file his stories using the technology everyone talks about.

Maybe next year.

In the meantime, I’ve got a breakfast appointment with a couple of unsuspecting egg and bacon rolls.

Because “there’s nothing like ‘em anywhere”.