Country Focus
The Royal Welsh Agricultural Show
Competitions, world-class livestock, crafts, countryside sports, shopping, food and drink.... you name it, the Royal Welsh Show has it all! Celebrating the Society’s 120th anniversary this year, there will be special displays, a new horticultural tent and the poultry are back! Kicking off BBC Radio Wales' coverage for the week ahead, Country Focus presenter Caroline Evans is joined by BBC Wales' Environment and Rural Affairs Correspondent, Steffan Messenger to look ahead at this year's "Sioe Fawr"!
- Duration:
- 30m
- Broadcast on:
- 21 Jul 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
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Hello and welcome to Country Focus on Caroline Evans. Yes, it's that time of year again, the Royal Wells Show, Food and Farming shown off at its best. There'll be competition, spectacular displays, a new horticultural village and the poultry is back. We're here at the showground in the heart of Midwayles in Danelwev, among the livestock and their owners who are slowly waking up to what promises to be a glorious day here in Halelwev. Hundreds of thousands of visitors are expected to come together and celebrate the very best of Welsh and British agriculture. And I've just met, I'm Thea Dorna. I'm Thea, you have some beautiful looking, chestnut coloured cows that tell me about your cattle. They're red pole and they are native breed to this country and they're a dual purpose. So they're one of the most natural dual purpose cattle that we have in the UK. When you say dual purpose, you mean milk and beef? Yeah, milk and beef and I call them like the one-stop shop so that you can get everything you require from these animals in the quality of the milk and the quality of the beef as well. And do you come every year? No, it's our first year here back now since... I've been thinking about 1999, the 2000s show. The reason for that was that the first mouth outbreak and the class has just never got back up again and everybody because we're a minority breed as well. People were struggling to get back into the rhythm of showing again. And where are you from, Antia? New Castle Emlin, Kerry De Guillen. And how long have you been breeding these cattle? I would say 2010 myself but previously my mother and father started the original herd. What do you have some adorable looking little calves there? How old are they? They're six weeks old, the little calves are, yeah. So they're fed on mother and they will be reigned about eight months. The mother's got enough milk about it without having some creek feed or give them some, you know, hard feeds. So they're, like I said, you know, they produce everything that you require just on forage, really. Yeah. And what competition are you in? Are you in a competition today? No, not today, we start tomorrow. So about 130 tomorrow is our classes. So, yes, we're looking forward to it. So we're just prepping today now so it'll be washing and we blow dry the hair and we put all nice sprays, like hairspray on them. So it's a bit like a beauty parlour, really. Nothing will good luck with that and thank you very much. Now also here at the show ground is our BBC Wales environment and rural affairs correspondent, Stephen Messenger. Though I can't see him, I don't know where he is. Steph, where are you this morning you're out and about? Yes, morning Caroline. I think I can just about make you out in the distance. I'm down by the sheep sheds. It's always a real privilege, isn't it? Being here on the Sunday before the show gets underway and you see the quiet hustle and bustle of everyone arriving and getting prepared. It's always a really busy few days. Plenty to talk about those hot topics that affect farming and the countryside and perhaps especially so this year because obviously we're talking in the wake of that year where we've seen farmer protests spread across Wales. There have been big political changes too, a new cabinet secretary for rural affairs in Cardiff Bay. He went on to Davis replacing Lesley Griffiths after eight years and then of course too we've seen a new Labour government in Westminster. So plenty to talk about and I've got two guests with me here to do just two alids with me this morning. Ali Jones is president of NFU Cumbrie, the farming union and Ali Dries is a dairy farmer from Eglusuru in Pembrokstra and one of the founders of the Digonu Digonar enough is enough farmer campaign group or farmer movement that's had such an impact this year. Ali Jones to start with how do you reflect on the last year and the position the industry's in now going into the show? You know whenever we come to the show every year I think we look back and we try to look forward and don't say. Looking back it's been fairly challenging or more than challenging you know farming wise is one of the most difficult years I've witnessed for a long long time and we've struggled through we've seen difficult years like this in the past but there's also the externalities you know what's happening in the political world the turmoil there the turbulence what farmers are looking for really is a little bit of stability and obviously you know one of the things that we're looking for not only on what happens on our own farms but what's happening in policy design and that's where a lot of work is ongoing at the moment a lot of concern and Ali will probably touch on this because there was a huge amount of a protest during this this last year and now at least there's there is a little bit of movement that you know there are palpable signs that things might be changing they have to change by the way they have to change because had they proceeded with the proposals as they were they would have been economics it was out for farming in Wales so that's the reality and I do sincerely hope that we will probably see some change and and you know within these next settlements will be absolutely crucial and so those proposals specifically are referencing to the sustainable farming scheme the big shake up of farming subsidies in Wales and that was the trigger I led I mean there was lots of things you were concerned about but for those big protests and those meetings you organised in Welshpool and in Camarthan you've got another public meeting haven't you here on the show ground tomorrow night to update farmers about what's going on where do you see things at the moment after all of those protests and after all of that campaign work well as Alex has just said you know that there has been movement on certain issues but as a group of farmers we don't feel it's gone well hard hard enough to start off with you know there's been change on on TB issues but we haven't gone far enough on it and VZs you know that there's no sign of this independent chairman being announced to take a review into the water regulation rules so you know the SFS is is what it is you know we can see movement on that there's a round table being pointed on it and there's a carbon group below that and that now has to run its course so you can see what will happen and to be fair to the government they have been making announcements haven't they delayed the introduction of the sustainable farming scheme as you say they've made changes to TB testing regimes and so on announcements are coming out as a result of you know the protests well yeah you know we we met with the new cabinet secretary on the 9th of May and at that point in time there was no way he was looking to delay the scheme coming in 2025 and we begged with him basically to delay it for a year and on the pilot and last week we heard that there will be a pilot scheme in 2025 and all we do is basically back up what the unions are asking for anyway it's nothing new you know the unions go in they they they've been in negotiation with the government for a number of years obviously on these points but it came to a head last winter you know and probably the writing was on the wall here last year you know well i'm standing next to the president and a few who made a stand on this time last year and said that he wouldn't implement the scheme on his farm because of the tree cover and you know the brother came from worst government because of that you know more or less pointing the finger at the end if you were jeopardizing all this money for the farmers of farmers of Wales if you don't go into the scheme so the writing was on the wall then the government had been told that this 10th century cover was unpopular and unworkable okay let's stick with that alat then because obviously the other alatier referencing that sort of bombshell moment at the start of the show last year and where you and your colleague abby reader said you couldn't take part in the scheme as it stood because you know you felt that 10th century cover was not practical for your farm a year on there hasn't been an announcement on the 10th trees and where where are we at you're on this ministerial round table what's the latest on that specific issue so so 12 months ago i think what we shared really was my own personal experience on my own particular farm and what we saw was there there was an overwhelming support throughout farming in Wales that you know it was unpractical and this was a message that Welsh government really needed to hear and understand we went through the consultation when the consultation came out in December the 10 percent was still there still embedded within the proposals and you know there's no wonder that we had five thousand farmers out protesting but where where are we now where are we now do you think that's going to be removed so anyway go back to February when we were right in the middle of the consultation we spoke to the minister the previous minister at that time i said this is not going anywhere so we asked them to to convene a ministerial round table and to be fair they have sanctioned that and they've set in place a round table specifically looking at the sfs there's an officials group as well now it's on the carbon side what they've done really as part of the round table they've taken an evidence group that will look specifically into alternatives so that we can actually look at something else apart from the 10th sheet so you're hopeful there might be changes there well there has to be changes okay well we've got so much more to talk about but we've run out of time but thank you both for joining me right in early in front of the the sheepsheds this morning that's Alid Reese Caroline from the Digon who Digon campaign group and Alid Jones of NFU comery back to you thank you step well i've come out of the cattle sheds now into the sunshine it's beautiful out here it stays like this it's going to be a great week and this year after four years poultry is back at the show one competitor who's moving glad about that is Paul Tucker from Penn Cloud you've got rodent in the reds buntums which are being keeping for 50 odd years and then their wetter gorns are there and they've been keeping them for about the same amount of time but my father kept wetter gorns for over 60 years and obviously that's where i had the chicken bug was from my father but now with a bird flu there's been no shows and of course competing in royal Welsh now is going to be more difficult this year because we haven't got so many youngsters showing but i mean we've got a regroup now and encourage these youngsters to take part and yet the entries in the egg section is over 250 plates of eggs there so the people are keeping poultry but possibly not to show standard you know or how do you know when a bird is to show standard what do you look for it's markings type they're all different colors but it's the case of experience of keeping poultry and you get used to then that is the fun like i got two rodent red bullets there now that i bred this year i think they're good but until you get to the show i could be pleased and i could be very disappointed but that's part of showing i've entered ten birds all together which is made up of roads menokas and wetter gorns and that's a lightsaber six a cockrell yeah cockrell and then you've got the young poets there they have incredible markings on them white with sort of black feathers and obviously now i'll wash these three days before the show and hopefully they really keep clean for the day but do they go dirty themselves in the box or the way up but it's all about taking part in showing them of course there hasn't been any poultry at the show for four years now oh yes yes the restrictions are dropped now the vets will be there to check the birds that they're all healthy that must have been a huge mess well the entries are down in the royal world this year simply because you've got older people that have given up keeping poultry the junior section goes up to 16 well of course those are worse showing i've gone too old now that's another thing i've had to put tops on the rins stopping wild birds coming in to appear in the poultry i mean i've been keeping poultry over 50 years so i built this up but then when you get costal event when you've got the children especially are the parents prepared to do all this isn't it and that is going to spoil or be like you know ideal is to get the youngsters when they're about uh nine ten years of age and then you've got five years from actually show in before they move on hopefully to the adult section you know now you're part of the poultry club of whales so how many enthusiasts are there across whales well we started the poultry club of whales coming up to 30 years now we did have the show in built the spring show which we had over 250 entries but again there was a lot of spaces missing because they've given up poultry but the encouraging thing was there was new faces and the prison thing for me there was a little young girl she was nine ten and she had the champion in the junior section and we had a medal together and she was lovely it was great to see it Paul Tucker there looking forward to this year's poultry competitions you're listening to BBC Radio Whales this is country focused we're live with you this morning on the royal wealth show ground in sannell where we've ticked off the cattle the sheep of the chickens another favorite here at the show of course is the horse and pony classes sadly this year the Welsh section bee breed has been added to the rare breeds survival trust watch list in our reporter Mary Claire Kerry Jones trotted away to a stud Owen in the veil of glum organ to meet Fiona Ledbetter who's been breeding these ponies for 40 years this is pad at Mark West a gorgeous gray Welsh section bee stallion he's trying to eat my coat i've got no carrots in there for you i first came across him when i actually judged at the royal Welsh show in 2015 beautiful pony lovely paces fantastic mover really true to type what is it that makes the section bepony a section bepony it's got to look very Welsh it's a Welsh pony of riding type he's got a fantastic front he's got beautiful limbs he's a fantastic mover you should be able to sort of look at them all and say they're Welsh they've got very similar characteristics small ears pretty head it's like you dished face well set on head and neck well set on tail good bone they just need to scream Welsh and just across from the paddock just wandered down to us is the most gorgeous little chestnut full that stonbrae a squire so that's a son of pad at Mark West my stallion he's out of a very famous meckles and half delilah she has been overall supreme at the royal Welsh so i'm very excited about this fall well we've now come inside to your kitchen for a lovely cup of tea and on the walls you've got all your rosettes you've got photographs what is it about the Welsh section be that you love so much they're a lovely pony they're a very elegant beautiful pony there's so much that you can do with them i mean you can show them in hand and under saddle they jump they jump brilliantly they do dressers they've got lovely paces you can drive them they're happy hackers um you can do jim carne ring on them so why do you think they're now on this watch list i don't know i was very shocked you know when it was announced that they were and i felt it was really rather sort of sad i suppose on reflection i probably wasn't surprised because if you look at the numbers being shown in hand they have declined and also a lot of old breeders have either given up or passed away and although we have got some new people who are keen it's much harder nowadays for people to start from scratch the ponies are very very popular worldwide lisele mead who keeps and shows Welsh section be ponies and helps run a facebook group dedicated to the breed thinks they've become a victim of their own success they're in demand abroad america europe you know for riding ponies there's a huge hunter pony market in america and they've cottoned on in the last 10 years and so that the Welsh ponies are the perfect pony for the job you know they've got the temperament they've got the movement very stylish they'll jump so a lot of ponies have been exported over the last 10 years there's a pony i showed as a youngster several years ago he's been european fbi driving trials champion but in holland in the last few years it's tempting if you're offered good money to sell your ponies overseas that the bloodlines then are lost to this country so i think a lot of them have been sold outside the show in and breeding circles and also some of the breeders are not breeding purebreds because again the demand is for a sport pony so they'll put them to thoroughbreds or riding ponies or warm blood stallions to breed apart red because they've seen the gap in the market and that's what's needed closest to us we've got a two-year-old and then i've got a very old girl of 29 and then in the further field i've got two mares that are hopefully in full back in estradoan fiona is looking ahead to the future i shall continue breeding for as long as i can because i wouldn't really want to be without the ponies how do you feel about the fact that they are in decline i think it's sad hopefully it will be reversed and we will see an uptake of bees but we don't need quantity we need the quality we need the true to type and they are out there it's just a case of breeding from the right ponies that's fiona led better who'll be judging the Welsh section B classes here at the show this week well along with the livestock and equine competitions the royal show always aims to provide something of interest to everyone with countryside activity shopping entertainment displays from dancing diggers to falconry but a new feature this year is the horticultural village and the mound tasked with overseeing the cultivation of it will let me allow him to introduce himself well i'm adam jones and i'm the assistant honor director for horticulture at the show primarily i'm a professional gardener i garden in schools garden with children turning through with them to realize that there's a career in horticulture and to enjoy all elements of environmental growing to growing their own edibles as well so i'll do anything that's revolving around gardening and primarily that's what i'd say you know and this year you've brought a whole new concept to this show absolutely you might remember that perhaps in the years gone by we've had to make a decision difficult decision of the show to pause the competitive classes within horticulture and have a rethink press that reset button we came together stakeholders around the table back a year and a half ago it feels like many moons ago now and decided on different concept and what we wanted to do to reflect what horticulture in Wales means and yes that means competitive classes but it also means learning skills growers how do you encourage farmers in agriculture to understand that actually growing cropage on a field scale could be something profitable for their business so we try to encompass all these elements and pull them together you know so it's um horticulture is massive and i'd argue that anyone who works in agriculture is also a horticulturist as well and vice versa so we're trying to show that horticulture is one of those key and core focal parts of the society and put on a good show for people to come and enjoy as well yes now you've got this whole new area on the show ground we're stood here at the moment looking round you've got several tent smart keys and some beds behind us just give me a little tour of what we got here yeah of course so we've got the traditional element of the mackeys we've got the garvel out is the horticulture mackey with all the children's competitions and the vegetable growers we then got the ace death of the lord day which is the floral art mackey okay kind of a pun going on there okay we're playing with i had so much wine one of an evening we're playing with words okay so we're trying to marry wealth culture in with celebrating horticulture so the ace death of art and blood isoflowers and instead of pulling them together and we could in the floral is death of art we've got a giant chair in there free people can sit in it so we might go and have a gym later on but the idea is of course um that these areas and new areas where people can go and enjoy and then we're by the micro gardens here which are represented with organizations across whales coming together gardeners alike to show what you can do in a small growing space you don't necessarily need a large garden to have a nice garden or grow edibles and then we go on further down past these lovely sculptures these talking heads we've got the dusky bar which is another play on words which is um the learning hub okay so there's a play on the west way for a barn which is in the ski bar and learning dusky so we pull them together and in there we'll have a program events throughout the week with all kinds of experts from their fields talking about horticulture we've got war ceremonies we've got music we've got bands playing so we're trying to go for a family orientated vibe you know so people feel it's like a festival within a festival if that makes sense and then as we head on further because a large area as you can see you need a good ten fifty minutes to walk around you know properly we've got a sensory garden which has been kindly sponsored by the national trust somewhere for people to find solace during the show week and we've also got the growers marquee where they're going to be plant sales they're going to be discussions in there as well food demonstrations cooking all kinds of things that encompass horticulture and then we've got the garden for you which is the food area with a restaurant coffee cart so i'm hoping we can create you know a good experience for people to come children as well we've got chalkboards for them to come and draw smiley happy faces on we've got activities for children the question is what's not here to enjoy really to be honest you know and i hope that people get inspired they go home and they think yes i'm gonna get that salvia i'm gonna stick it in the front garden and i'm gonna enjoy it you know and because that's to me what horticulture ultimate is about we've all got our own relationship with growing sometimes it's sentimental for me my grandfather was a huge inspiration in my life coming to the show year on year and now i feel that i'm a father myself and i can't wait to hold my daughter's hand and walk you through and hopefully see things wow i can be a part of horticulture and i can enjoy growing as well so a mixture then of what's been here in the past but a whole pile of new things as well absolutely it's like a melting pot of all kind of things that makes horticulture great and that probably reflects the changing times that we're in at the moment absolutely people are turning again to grow their own because of difficulty in food prices people are seeing that's a challenge but also the creative element and the well-being element they're feeling that actually when you go to plant something you feel a purpose you feel a reasoning so if we can get people to understand that growing is varied it doesn't have to be this type of mindset it can be all aspects of horticulture then that's when we've done our job correctly and with this area of course it's going to develop and we are keen to hear what people think about it we're not a close shop any ideas any commentary anything that people think they'd like to include next year just come and speak to us as doers come and see what's happening and i like talking as you've probably gathered you know um i could spend two hours discussing heritage varieties of carrots but i want today but i just encourage everyone just to come to the show and enjoy absolutely that's Adam Jones and you can find the horticultural village in its new location down by the main entrance well worth a visit i'd say Steph yeah looking forward to going down there well as Adam says horticulture is a huge field with many aspects and one of those is vity culture the cultivation of grapes to produce wines at the wine making industry in Wales is on the up with Welsh wine gaining international recognition it's also an expanding industry and one of the newer vineyards in Wales is winnyard rocks set up by Susan and James Kinsey Jones and located not far from here at new radna in poise and Susan and James are with us now and perhaps it's a bit early to have a little wine tasting session but you've brought us a bottle of sparkling red to have a look at something a bit different James yeah certainly i think most people most British wine anyway is sort of sparkling wine and it typically is a sparkling white but we like to do things a little bit differently so we we've produced sparkling red so quite quite a unique product really Mid Wales a good place to grow wine Susan turns out not too bad amazing amazing not too shabby um we've been fortunate enough we've planted varieties that are called hybrids that are resistant to disease and bread for being grown in a cool climate such as the rondo grape that's gone into our cold rondo and it's been working out well for us so far yeah tell us a little bit more about this bottle that's in front of it I mean yeah it's got a bright pink label bright purple writing looks a bit 70s and James has the had a lightning moment with the with the label so yeah the method of production is called col fondo which is the ancestral sort of Prosecco method so the grape variety is called rondo so we sort of a pun based name and call it cold rondo so yeah we're trying to we the way we we go about things we're trying to make things a little bit like hearted quite fun and you know because for a lot of people wine can be sort of intimidating and not accessible and that's something that we we're kind of quite keen to change and be different and as we were saying Welsh winemaking in a pretty healthy place at the moment absolutely it's even since we we first planted in 2017 and I think there was around 20 vineyards and there's now it's about 50 now yeah so it's massively increased over the you know even over the last sort of five years and what about the focus this year the show on horticulture we know it's a big there's a big push in Welsh government to increase you know to have a bit more mixed farming in Wales what do you think about that Susan? I think it's absolutely fantastic the more that could be put into horticulture generally I think if more people could be growing things of all kinds like fruit, vegetables, flowers I mean we're looking at the farm and the vineyard to grow flowers ourselves and that'd be part of our offering so we have a huge festival to culture here I know the target oh sorry James, how are we on? I just saw the big shout out to the Welsh government actually because well over the last sort of three or four years there's been a lot of support for viticulture in Wales so there's the there's the wine special interest group which is set up by Welsh government and through that and now through Farm Connect there's been a lot of education because many people who've gone into viticulture are like first generation so that the first people in their families to grow grapes was you know historically in France it's a multi-generational thing so there's been a lot of a lot of education put on for free through the Welsh government through now through Farm Connect it's great really helpful and how many bottles are you now producing a year? yeah we're kind of around probably knocking on for 700 bottles at the moment so we're quite small scale because we planted our vines incrementally because we didn't quite know if it would work out when we first planted seven years ago and as a result of that we're steadily increasing our because the target I think is to grow the sector quite a bit isn't it to over a hundred million that that's quite something because vines don't grow overnight do they? no no it takes about three to five years for vines to establish and especially where we are definitely is a little bit more challenging well thanks for coming along this morning and showing us your lovely bottle of sparkling red wine yeah that's what it is and that's it for this week from the Royal Welsh agricultural show all the best to the competitors the producers and of course the visitors have a good week from me Caroline Evans and Stefan Messenger and the country-focused team thank you for listening now and stay safe even when we're on a budget we still deserve nice things quince is a place of scoop up stunning high-end goods for 50 to 80 percent less in similar brands they have buttery soft cashmere sweater starting at 50 dollars luxurious Italian leather bags and so much more plus quince only works with factories that use safe ethical and responsible manufacturing get the high-end goods you'll love without the high price tag with quince go to quince.com/style for free shipping and 365 day returns hi i'm graham class host of technically speaking and intel podcast join me for season two as we explore the future of technology evolving today in each episode i'll speak with the minds transforming medicine healthcare retail entertainment personal computing and more with the help of AI join me every other Tuesday and explore the latest technology changing our world today and creating a more accessible tomorrow listen to technically speaking an intel podcast on the iHeart Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts.