With food production under extreme pressure from climate turmoil, unsustainable returns, high costs, disease challenges, and confusion over European common agricultural policy reform, the chairman of Devon NFU has called on the government to urgently consider implementing a long-term national food security strategy. Bampton sheep farmer, Colin Rowland, says: “Farmers make up less than two per cent of the population and we currently produce 60 per cent of the nation’s food, but we seem to have been a soft touch for both governments and supermarkets who have taken us for granted over the...
Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Hogg will be discussing rural crime and policing issues on the opening morning of the Devon County Show 2013 (10am - 16 May). He will join Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer and the County Chairman of the Devon Young farmers, Paul Glanvill, for an open forum in the Young Farmers area. (Avenue D - stand 215) Among the topics expected to be covered are:
Theft of farm machinery
Livestock rustling
Metal theft
Poaching
Anyone attending the show is welcome to take part in this event. There will also be an...
Deborah Custance-Baker is preparing her Large Black pigs in readiness for the judging rings at the Devon County Show next week (May 16-18). Deborah, from Silverton near Exeter, is pinning her hopes of success on two youngsters and is hoping they will give her the edge over her arch rival. “I have been practicing walking round the field to get them used to the stick and board which is used to steer them. They are typical "teenagers" and sometimes conform but quite often they don’t. It could be interesting! “They will need to be washed and then oiled up to make them gleam in the sun at the...
The health and wellbeing of Devon’s communities will be the focus of Devon County Council’s county show marquee this year, with lots of opportunities to take part in a range of activities, as well as getting some useful lifestyle advice.
The choice of theme coincides with the council’s new responsibilities for public health, and for the team which provides and commissions many of the services that contribute to good health and wellbeing.
This year’s Devon County Show takes place on Thursday 16 May to Saturday 18 May, and the council’s marquee will be located adjacent to the...
HRH The Duchess of Cornwall is to attend the first day of the Devon County Show on Thursday 16 May at Westpoint, Exeter.
It will be the Duchess of Cornwall’s third visit to the county’s largest annual event where she will be the guest of The Hon George Lopes, this year’s Show President.
Show Secretary Ollie Allen said: “We are honoured and delighted that Her Royal Highness will be with us this year and will do everything to ensure she enjoys her day.”
The Duchess of Cornwall’s first visit was in 2005, shortly after her marriage to HRH The Prince of Wales and a...
When 25-year-old Charlotte Slee from North Devon brought three Jacob sheep 10 years ago, little did she think it would be the start of a prize-winning flock. Now she runs the Halsbury Flock with her brother Christopher, aged 22, on their parents' farm at Buckland Brewer near Bideford. At this year’s Devon County Show - May 16-18 - they hope to recreate the triumph of last year when they went away with a coveted Special Prize (for the most points gained by a livestock exhibitor aged under 35) and an armful of rosettes. Charlotte, who works full time on the farm, said: “Last year we had...
The countdown has begun for the start of the Devon County Show, which runs this year from 16 to 18 May. Organic family farmers from Talaton near Honiton are sure to be cooking up a storm. Jonathan and Louise Burrough from Peradon Farm specialise in gourmet burgers, made from their home-grown Aberdeen Angus beef as well as lamb. The award-winning steak burgers will be ready to eat from their catering stand near the Mole Valley Farmers Main Arena. The 310-acre farm has been in the Burrough family for several generations and has been organic for more than a decade. In recent years they have...
Preparation has started on the build for this year's Devon County Show on 16-18 May. A team of eight contractors are making the showground home for the next month as they build marquees equivalent in size to approximately four football pitches. Show Secretary Ollie Allen said the early days of the build were a testing time for the team. “This is a really big task!” she said. “In marquee-building terms, it’s equivalent to scaling Mount Everest! “Each year, Danco, the marquee contractors, put in some new recruits with the more established staff members and within weeks, sometimes days, it is...
A major new awards ceremony is to be held next month to celebrate people in Devon who go the extra mile to help others in the community or who are doing extraordinary things without getting the recognition that they deserve.
Coinciding with the Devon County Show, and being held at Westpoint on the Friday evening of show week, the Guildhall Shopping Exeter Pride of Devon Awards is organised by 107.3FM Radio Exe. Members of the public can nominate people they know who qualify for one or more of the following categories:
• Grandparent of the Year Award • Teacher of the Year...
It all starts with a 100m tape, paper plan, old roadside boards cut up into 8” squares, bags of 6” nails, a hammer, marker pen, two energetic men and the passion and determination of the many volunteers who are involved with putting on the Devon County Show.
Show Secretary Ollie Allen has begun to oversee the marking out the site for the Devon County Show, held on May 22-24, at the Westpoint showground near Exeter.
From humble beginnings, a tented town ready to accommodate more than 30,000 exhibitors and visitors every day will rise up from the grass into a traditional...
