AN AGREEMENT with an inebriated lot of Dirranbandi men in a Sydney pub last year is what brought the city to the country - or at least Alan Jones to the show.

"Dan, who works for me, was doing a gig at this pub at The Rocks, so myself and some of the guys who work for me went down to support him,” Jones said.

"Jake and I were there early and I heard this bloke say 'that's effin Alan Jones'. We had a few drinks with them ... and then they said 'right, we're going to get some dinner'. I said 'I can't go with you, I'm here to see Dan sing, can we make a deal, I'll do something else for you instead'.

"He said 'you gotta open the Dirranbandi Show'.

"I agreed, thinking they'd wake up sober and forget, but he didn't, then I roped Peta Credlin in on air.”

Jones said that on a serious note, it was a pleasure for them to be at the show, as it reminded him of his upbringing in western Queensland and Ms Credlin of hers in rural Victoria.

"People don't always understand what a show is,” he said.

"It is where you show the people in your community what you do, and that's the wonderful thing.

"There is a lot of skill, talent and resilience in the bush. The people here are inspirational and to be here opening the show, it lets people know that we've come here to listen.

"We were stewards of the pig races, a marvellous event, but what stood out for me was that the fence was lined with kids - but we have to ask ourselves, are those kids going to come back into farming? We have to make sure we preserve how important generational farms are to Australia.”