Newry Agricultural Show Society will host its 2025 Annual General Meeting on Thursday, February 6 in the Canal Court Hotel, Newry.
Meanwhile, this year’s Newry show takes place on Saturday, June 28 on lands at Derrywilligan Road, Bessbrook.
Newry Show chair, Brian Lockhart commented:
“We have had a successful two years at the Bessbrook site and we want to build in this in 2025.
“The event is a tremendous shop window for the farming and food industries throughout our catchment area.”
Newry Agricultural Show Society
Meanwhile, the year ahead is shaping up to be a busy one for Brian Lockhart. In addition to his commitments to Newry Show, he has recently been elected chair of the Northern Ireland Shows Association.
“NISA’s number one priority is to secure the funding referenced within the 2023 Jones Report for all the local agricultural shows taking place in Northern Ireland.
“This is already the situation pertaining in the Republic of Ireland. The local farming shows are fully supported by the Irish government.”
Prior to the winding-up of the previous Executive at Stormont, the then agriculture minister – Edwin Poots – commissioned a ‘resilience’ report, looking at future options for all the local agricultural shows that are held in Northern Ireland
The work was undertaken by Royal Welsh Show Association chief executive Aled Rhys Jones. His report was published in June 2023.
His specific brief was to look at ways by which the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) could strategically fund local agricultural shows into the future.
He put forward two options in this regard. The first centred on the core funding of all the show societies.
Within this model, monies would be distributed equally to support their running costs. The core funding would also be linked to a set of outcomes, in line with the strategic priorities of DAERA.
Examples of such outcomes could include: the introduction of new competitions to recognise environmental skills and/or sustainable farming practises; displays of new equipment and technology to improve productivity on farms, plus initiatives linking food and farming.
Other envisaged outcomes include the improvement of supply chain integration; educational content and dedicated areas at shows helping to inform the public about farming and food production.
The core funding would also ensure the highest standards of animal health and welfare plus a commitment to lower the carbon footprint of shows.
In essence, Rhys Jones proposed a funding model which would see DAERA commit core funding in the region of £10,000 per show association.
DAERA’s immediate response to all of this was to, effectively, moth ball the report, pointing to the fact that no funding was available to implement its recommendations.
