Local Food Campaign

Young Farmers members from the South Pennines are in high demand from the media as publicity surrounding their project titled ‘Why local food Matters’ continues to escalate.  Following their recent five minute appearance on ITV Yorkshire’s Calendar News and double page spread in a local magazine, members of Worth Valley YFC have this month been key note speakers at a Climate Change and Sustainability Conference.  The conference was organised by the Transition Towns which looks at how ‘food secure’ towns are going to be when world oil reserves fall and the price of transportation rises.
Hollie Ogden, Sarah Shires and Club Leader Andrew Wood made a 20 minute presentation at the conference and answered questions from the audience on the ‘Why Local Food Matters’ project they are involved with which is being supported by the South Pennines Leader Programme and the Keighley Area Committee.  This has seen Young Farmers Clubs from the South Pennines area make efforts to reconnect the urban consumer with the rural producers and organisations which add manufacture, sell and serve local food. 
The highlight of this project was in May where the members sent out 16,000 free tickets to young people from across the region inviting them to come to the YFC Food and Farming Exhibition where they showed the journey that food makes from field to fork.  The event was a huge success and over 5,000 people young and old saw the exhibition which included livestock, a butchery demonstration, a farm shop and a cookery demonstration.  In preparation for the cookery demonstration members of Worth Valley YFC visited Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food, Bradford to learn a recipe made with only locally produced ingredients.  They then ‘passed it on’ to the crowds at the exhibition and encouraged them to go home and enjoy cooking and eating their own local food.

County show 2010

Yorkshire Young Farmers eighth annual County Show & Rally was another success, despite the continuous rainfall throughout the day at Nidderdale Showground in Pateley Bridge on Sunday 6 June.
In addition to all the attractions you would expect to find at a traditional country show such as Main Ring Attractions, children’s rides, trade, craft stands and food hall this show had over 70 competitions ranging from tractor handling to tug of war to cookery to keep the visitors enthralled and amused all day! A non-stop line of attractions in two separate rings kept visitors of all ages entertained until late afternoon.  Main Ring attractions included Cheshire Dog Display Team, Vale of York Polo Ponies, North Yorkshire Fire Demonstration, Claro Beagles and the YFC competitions that enticed the crowds with their efforts in Relay Race, tug of war and dressing up a scarecrow. Some of the biggest attractions for the visitors were the YFC County Song and Log Sawing competitions which saw the young farmers sing, dance, and sweat through their determination to be crowned winners! The younger visitors were well catered for with a bouncy castle and slide, bungee trampoline, and the usual fun and games to be had in the company of Yorkshire's Young Farmers. The food hall was once again full of some of Yorkshire’s finest produce, which the public and young farmers enjoyed sampling. 
Yorkshire Young Farmers from across the County between the age of 10 and 26 competed in over 70 competitions taking place over the course of the day which resulted in a very successful and enjoyable day in a range of competitions including stock judging, flower arranging, cooking, tug of war and handicrafts, with selected competition winners going through to the Northern Area heats at Clitheroe hosted by Lancashire Federation on 26th June.  Overall results from the County Rally, 1st Farnley Estate 213.5 points, 2nd Calderdale 211 points and 3rd Winksley cum Grantley 209.5 points.
Full list of results under Members Area, Results.
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