The West Grinstead Ploughing Match and Show is a great annual event celebrating farming and the countryside. It takes place this Saturday, 16th September and is very local to Horsham itself being held at Westons Farm, Itchingfield (details can be found at www.westgrinsteadploughing.co.uk). The eponymous ploughing is only part of the day which will include cattle and sheep shows, a fun fair, tug-of-war and local produce.
The West Grinstead Agricultural Society has been holding shows for over 125 years. Many of the early shows were designed to spread information among the farming community and encourage best-practice. (Eighty years later the same was true of the genesis of “The Archers” radio programme – which was only partly “an every day story of countryfolk” and very largely about education!)
Since the Society came into being both farming and the numbers of people working daily on the land has changed dramatically. Despite this traditions and communities are maintained as are old skills – including horse-drawn and steam-driven ploughing which will be in action on the day.
For over 40 years the ultimate direction of farming in this country has been a shared responsibility with decisions on agricultural support, food quality, farm animal welfare and conservation being taken at the EU level. Following our departure from the EU decision making will revert back to us here in the UK. For the first time in decades there is space for an informed conversation about what we hope to secure from our farming sector.
Not long ago the answer would have been simple – food, lots of it and as cheap as possible. Post war Governments, horrified by how close we came to being “starved out”, pushed hard for higher domestic food production.
The modern consumer’s view is far more nuanced. The cost of food is very important. However support for our farming is also expected to help preserve our environment and retain our high standards of farm animal welfare. High quality, locally branded food, in an era in which provenance matters, is something in which Sussex, as last week’s Horsham food festival showed, can excel.
Photo caption: Crawley Down students preparing last week to unveil memorial plaques on the homes of local residents who were killed in the Great War as a lasting and very personal reminder of those who did not come back.