[4] It is an Edwardian-themed town, with the district plan encouraging buildings in the CBD to be built in that style.

As transport systems improved and farming practices changed, the need for small, local saleyards all but disappeared, leaving few major selling complexes in New Zealand.

[5] The Manawatū Plains, on which the town is sited, are very fertile land, and as such it is a prosperous agricultural area.

Being located on the floodplain of a major river has its problems, however, and in February 2004 the town suffered extensive flooding.

[6] The town was named after Colonel William H. A. Feilding, a director of the Emigrants and Colonists Aid Corporation Ltd. who negotiated the purchase of a 100,000 acre (400 km²) block of land from the Wellington provincial government in 1871.

[9][10] In October 2020, the Government committed $1,248,067 from the Provincial Growth Fund to upgrade Kauwhata Marae and 5 others, creating 69 jobs.

[11] Feilding is defined by Statistics New Zealand as a medium urban area and covers 23.59 km2 (9.11 sq mi).

[12] Employing about 30 people with a payroll of $1.5m in 2015, Proliant, an Iowa based firm privately held by the father and son team of Wally and Nix Lauridsen, constructed a $24m factory on the outskirts of Feilding for the production of a byproduct from cattle blood plasma, bovine serum albumin (BSA), which is used in pharmaceuticals, vaccines and medical research.