Essex Young Farmers’ Country Show

Chelmsford, England

When I was planning a trip with my college students to the United Kingdom in 2015, a common theme emerged from my correspondence: to interact with one of the young farmers’ clubs found throughout the country. When my contacts found out that we were coming in May, they all immediately suggested that we go to the Essex Young Farmers’ Club and its annual tradeshow. I was familiar with Young Farmers’ Clubs. I knew they were very similar to a blend of 4-H and FFA here in the United States. Young Farmers’ Clubs in England and Wales are designed for rural youth aged 10 to 28 with an interest in rural life. The club was excited to have us visit, and we were treated as VIPs. We were asked to serve as judges for the trade show, which gave us an excellent opportunity to interact with people across the UK agriculture industry.

I was amazed by the sheer size of a show that was run by people in their late teens and early 20s. Granted, they had a lot of help from people who had also been part of Young Farmers’ Clubs, but seeing this show at its fullest was extremely impressive. The show was located in the historic English county of Essex. Essex is located east of London at the mouth of the River Thames as it runs into the North Sea. This area of England is very fertile and has long been a strong agricultural region. The county itself has 10 clubs: Ashdon and Saffron Walden, Brentwood, Chelmsford, Colchester, Dunmow, Halstead, Maldon, Ongar, Southminster, and Wix. These clubs get together because they are charity organizations and places for young rural people to socialize.  The ten clubs come together to run their annual show to raise money for the work they do throughout the year. The day we visited, thousands of people came out to the show on a beautiful sunny Sunday in Chelmsford. We rented a bus to take us out to the show so we would have door-to-door transportation, as I’ve found out it is not very easy to get to rural areas, especially on weekends in England outside of major cities. The best way to access the English countryside is by driving.

The show was impressive. There were people from our walks of agricultural life. There were schools, universities, equipment dealers, livestock producers, horticulturists, and production agriculturalists within the entire agricultural industry. There were also craftsmen, food vendors, and rides, giving the festival an American county fair vibe. When I reflect on this show today, I realize it was the best event I could’ve taken my students to during the two weeks we were in the United Kingdom. There were several reflections that emerged from attending the show. Number one, although we speak with a different accent, rural kids are similar to those around the world, and people’s heart desires are pretty similar. I think anytime that you get a group of kids that like cattle in front of cattle or that like tractors in front of tractors, the similarities between them shine through. A second reflection was that after attending the show, I was not surprised when the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. Most people in the agricultural industry did not like the fact that their policy was being governed out of Brussels, not out of London. I’m not sure how the agricultural industry feels today with the changes that have been made, but back in 2015, I gathered that they were ready for a change. A third reflection was the emerging importance of the UK’s agricultural industry in promoting locally grown food.  No matter where people live, they want food from close by. This reflection can be difficult for an American working in the agricultural industry that prides itself as the “breadbasket of the world,” but all agriculturalists need to accept that people want the chance to grow their own food. The locally grown food movement is becoming increasingly prevalent in the agricultural industry as people want to know where their food comes from. They want to know if it’s ethically grown, if it’s safe for them to eat, and if it’s healthy and nourishing. As American agriculturalists, we need to recognize that farmers in other places have really good methods, as well as strong aims and desires. The people that I interacted with in the UK agricultural industry were top-notch, and many of them were at the show. I could see the pride these young people from rural areas in the United Kingdom had in their country’s agriculture. Essex is often made fun of by British television. For a fair comparison, The Only Way is Essex is equivalent to Jersey Shore in the United States. However, the people that I met were salt of the earth folks, just like any that you would find if you were to go to a Farm Bureau or an FFA convention back home.

As for the festival, that was a real treat. As I typed earlier, the Essex Young Farmers’ Country Show was top-notch. If you get the chance to ever go to a festival in the United Kingdom, take advantage of the opportunity. We went to a couple of festivals on our trip, and if other UK festivals are like the two I visited, they are the best festivals I’ve ever been to. The English have an excellent way of organizing, as shown by the sheer details they provided throughout our visit. I was not expecting us to be recognized the way we were by this group, and it’s very touching, when I reflect on it today, just how glad they seemed to be to have a college group from the United States come to their county show. I’m almost certain that I could reach out to any of the people that I met in any of these clubs, and they would welcome us with open arms if we were back in the country. A common theme that comes up when I think about England is the beauty of the countryside; it’s the beauty of the land. It’s the beauty of the crops of the ground, and it’s the beauty of the people that live there. I cherish the chance we had to attend the Essex Young Farmers’ Country Show and hope to have a similar opportunity in the future.