This week I am with Rowan Allan who for twenty-five years has been the Honorary Secretary of The West Grinstead & District Ploughing & Agricultural Society. Rowan shares the role with Felicity Elliott. This year the society’s plough match is being hosted by David and Lucinda Exwood, and the Christ’s Hospital Foundation, at Field Farm, Dial Post. David, assisted by his son Tom, is a tenant farmer with some 1000 hectares under his stewardship.
Rowan Allan says “David is a first generation beef, sheep and arable farmer and believes that the future of farming isn’t about managed decline and dependence on environmental payments. As Vice President of the NFU he provides an important voice and model for profitable food production to feed the nation whilst valuing nature and working towards net zero farming. The agricultural community is looking forward to being able to come together at Field Farm.”
The West Grinstead and District Ploughing Match and Agricultural Society seeks to re-connect town and country and educate the public.
Rowan says “The ploughing match provides a shop window for people to engage with what farming and the countryside are really about.”
It’s a great family day out with the ploughing competition, cattle and sheep shows, licenced bar, fun fair, trade stands and local produce, terrier racing, open clay shooting competitions, tug-of-war, gun dog scurry, tractor and threshing machinery and even a ferret race, there is so much to enjoy.
Since 1871 The West Grinstead and District Plough Match and Agricultural Society has been promoting best practice in the local agricultural community through its prizes and awards. Today that also includes a bursary programme which provides financial support to enable and encourage young people to take up careers in the agricultural industry.
Our landscape is one of the most important building blocks of our nation’s heritage and identity and it is wholly dependent on the life given to it by our farmers who richly deserve our thanks.
The 2022 West Grinstead and District Plough Match and Agricultural Show will be at Field Farm, Sands Lane, Dial Post, RH13 8NY on Saturday 17th September 2022. Adult tickets are just £10 on the day or £8 if you book online in advance with children under 14 free. It’s going to be a fantastic family day!
For more information contact Rowan Allan at H. J. Burt Steyning through www.hjburt.co.uk or to book your tickets go to www.westgrinsteadploughing.co.uk.