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Why closing the Royal Show is a blow to UK agriculture

Why closing the Royal Show is a blow to UK agriculture

Many farmers see the end of the Royal Show as inevitable, the finish of an anachronistic event which had increasingly less relevance to their lives. What's the point of it when there are good county shows closer to home, when specialist events provide the technical information needed. "ponced up pedigree livestock and shiny machines sitting around doing nowt are hardly a realistic representation of our industry" was one internet comment.

UK farming has a huge and important pedigree

It's a parochial viewpoint. UK agriculture in world, and even European terms, is small, yet it's technical influence remains considerable. Britain may have lost an empire, but it's agriculturalists, graduating from Reading, Newcastle, Harper and other colleges, continue to play a major role in world agriculture. British farming science, application, management, innovation, machinery has a far bigger clout in global terms than the puny farming area in the UK would suggest. The reason is partly history, going back to the 18th century with our heroes such as Coke of Norfolk, Turnip Townsend and others, but their impetus has been maintained by organisations such as the RASE, and others, which drew together research and education in a peculiarly practical way.

... and a future in technology that needs world-wide exposure

Those Royal Show days in Stoneleigh provided the world the opportunity to see what British agriculture, it's breeders, managers, scientists can offer, and it attracted people from all over the world top do just that. It's a role which the RASE should once more bring to the fore front of its work, for in this it has a unique place. The Show and its management became distracted by periferal issues such as countryside education, the food hall, and the need to entertain, and put too much effort and funding into these issues instead of the core reason for the Society's existence 'Practice with Science'. Countryside education and other similar issues can work well, better, when tackled locally, through county shows.

This is why I feel that axing the Show is far more than putting an increasingly non-farming event out of its misery. The Royal provided the industry with a unique showcase which somehow became submerged by county clothes and retailing, educating the masses about basic farming, a huge farmers' market for farm and quasi-farm produce, a brilliant flower display, horses, and recently, recycling and green waste management. Let's hope this years event goes out with a real bang and no sign of a whimper, and that it is fully re-worked and re-launched in a few years time.