This article was commissioned and first published by Feed Compounder magazine. Although written for readers in the animal feed trade, I hope it's relevant to others in agribusiness and farming.
If you haven’t already scrawled in your diary KEEP FREE across 26th to 29th September 2013, now is the time to do so. As you may know, it is proposed to stage a major exhibition of British farming, food and countryside to the Great British Public in Hyde Park, London, on those four days.
The event will be free to enter and regular readers of the farming press will be aware already that it’s the brainchild of some ambitious farmers. Having set up Farming in the Park Ltd (FITP) to promote it, they claim the proposal “has been warmly received across the farming scene,” and has also elicited a message of support from His Royal Highness, The Duke of Edinburgh.
An early list of supporting organisations is posted on the FITP website, including JCB and John Deere, NFU and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Ocado and The British Christmas Tree Growers Association. As yet, the animal feed industry doesn’t appear to have troubled the website manager, but hopefully that’s about to change.
Essentially, the proposal is to repeat and eclipse the successes of two such events in 1989 and 1992, each attended by nearly a million people. The 2013 instigators are challenging every county in Britain to stage a one-acre exhibit showing off their farming, food and countryside. Clearly, the resulting nation picture will allow visitors to explore and enjoy a diverse variety of the farming industry’s aspects and outputs.
Suspending cynicism and scepticism for a moment, supporting this event seems like a no-brainer to your correspondent. It’s been done before successfully. It taps into a healthy interest among a good proportion of the public in food and how the countryside is being managed. At the end of the 1992 event, more than 90% of exhibitors said another event should be held soon and FITP says “20 years later this is long overdue.” And as their website points out, “across Britain, from county shows to open farms, there has been an impressive amount of activity and initiative to engage with all age groups. We now need to tap into this communication renaissance.”
Building on existing success, the proposal’s aspiration to utilise activity and funding streams that are already up and running looks particularly sensible in today’s climate of government austerity. It cites a feature called ‘Why Farming Matters in Kent’ at the county show, where a mini-orchard, shearing demo with Romney Marsh sheep, and a replica oast house drying hops for real, have all been created using funds from the Rural Development Programme for England, locals charitable trusts and corporate sponsorship.
According to the proposal, similar initiatives to this are taking place in other parts of the country that are equally worthy of a shop window in the nation’s capital. Also, perhaps dropping a hint to the farming unions, it suggests “the possibility of national organisations helping a county organisation put on a display.” Pledges received already include a state of the art combine harvester and a NABIM baking demonstration that could feature in a field to plate story about bread staged by one of the eastern counties. Notably, and here is an opportunity for our sector, the website doesn’t yet contain an equivalent proposed livestock feature.
Meanwhile, continuing with positive attitudes, the company that organised the 1989 and 1992 event – whose business involves organising large scale outdoor events such as Proms in the Park – has done a feasibility study. This was paid for by the NFU and Singer Foundation, and found the proposal to be viable. The Royal Parks and Westminster City Council are reported to be “agreeable, indeed enthusiastic, about an event similar to 1989 and 1992.” Factors including security and access, staging and management, traffic and transport, setting up and dismantling, daylight length and weather contingencies, and the dreaded elfinsafety, have all been considered.
Back in 1989, 500,000 was the predicted attendance and it turned out to be 940,000, and next year Farming in the Park are estimating on the cautious side at one million. Given the mainstream position now occupied by food production and its security of supply in the country’s governmental and media consciousness, the FITP proposal also suggests “good media attention both regionally and nationally.” The regional mention here is quite important here because one wouldn’t want this event to be exclusively London-centric, and modern media enable this not to be the case more easily than ever before.
Cost-wise, with fingers crossed that the escalating Olympics model hasn’t been used, an event budget of £3 million is estimated, to be covered by sponsorship and sales. The organisers are seeking farming and industry organisations “with the resources, profile and creativity to portray the farm to fork story and work with others to ensure the result gives visitors [and as many people as possible not there in person but seeing it reported*] a positive and vibrant view of British farming that lasts.” (*Author’s addition)
In addition to sponsors, turning this from dream into reality requires people “with commitment, drive and organisational talent” and the organisers are “keen to hear from anyone who has the necessary resources, skills or contacts.” They offer “an opportunity for individuals and organisations to shine and add immeasurable value to British farming.”
So here’s the deal. For the avoidance of doubt, I currently have no role, formally or informally, with Farming in the Park Ltd, not even as a pro bono volunteer (though this may change…if they’ll have me). It is my view that this event offers companies in farm supply a great opportunity to demonstrate their significant commitment to farmers on whom their business depends for its very existence. For those with deep enough pockets and clear enough vision, a national sponsor’s berth is the obvious and probably easiest option. Others with regional boundaries to their business interests, many feed firms included, might be able to support the counties they cover with local sponsorships.
Alternatively, rather than handing over a big lump of your company’s hard-earned, an easy-payment option could be to make some organisational horsepower available to FITP from your workforce. Long before the event takes place, there would be an ongoing dividend on this investment in the form of professional development, and a significantly expanded contacts book, for those involved. Personally, I’d recommend making one director and one junior member of staff, selected on merit by an open-to-all process, available for up to one day a week each. The rationale and justification for two volunteers is that a director can offer experience and should capture new contacts for the company’s network rather than just their own; and a junior would supply energy in abundance and should gain markedly in personal growth.
Last month, the Institute of Agricultural Engineers (IAgrE) declared their support for the proposal. Quoted in Farmers Guardian, chief executive Chris Whetnall regretted how the gap between farmers and consumers had widened and expressed hope that this could be reversed. “This event will help to educate the general public and showcase how advanced agricultural technology has become and how it is being applied to achieve efficient, sustainable, food production,” he said.
The IAgrE chief also lamented how the Royal Show’s demise had left farmers without a flagship event to show the general public where food came from. Notwithstanding how that event’s confused targeting was arguably a factor in its closure, this column was saying a similar thing four years ago. To recap, under the optimisitic headline ‘Breath of fresh air, one hopes, at RASE’, plaudits were being offered to the Royal Show organiser when they announced successful restaurateur and now BBC Masterchef talisman John Torode as its president-elect. Sadly, he never got to wear the gold chain due, it was said at the time, to other commitments.
At the time though, it was hoped this media-savvy public figure could make his year in office an unprecedented success in the annals of the RASE’s work “promoting rural excellence” as it said on their website at the time. Although his year in office wasn’t due to begin until October, this column hoped he would stick his blender into the 2008 Royal Show and its commitment “to promoting the best of British farming”.
For a start, we suggested he get them to bite the bullet and make the Great British public their one and only target audience for the event. Then, in recognition that the GBP aren’t really interested in farming per se, he could change the Royal’s commitment to “promoting the best of British food”. Another suggestion was to align the event with the incredibly successful BBC Good Food Shows. In addition to the four incarnations at the time (Summer, Scotland, London and Birmingham), this column proposed a fifth one, perhaps called the Good Food and Farming Show, concentrating on where it all comes from.
Back in 2008, this column signed off with: “Of course, such a radical departure would probably require the RASE to give up some of their sovereignty over the existing (and sadly declining) Royal Show. But it’s my belief that the time for this event to move on by quantum leap rather than evolution is at least ten years overdue. The easy view to take would be the cynical one that it will never happen. However, I’d prefer to believe that the appointment of a maverick like Torode might just signify a radical shift in attitude and approach. Well done, RASE, on landing such a good catch. Now let’s see what you can do with him.”
So you read it here first, of course. QED.
PS If you do approach Farming in the Park about getting involved, please mention that you read about it here in Feed Compounder. Thank you.
