Comment: Balmoral Show starts today
Death and taxes used to be the only two assumed certainties in life. However it is now becoming obvious that the combination of Balmoral Show and good weather can be added to the list.
Yet again, the sun has decided to come out to play for Northern Ireland’s show piece
farming and food event. And it’s only right and proper that such should be the case.
The next four days will see many thousands of visitors taking in the sights and sounds of the big event.
But let’s not forget that Balmoral is only the start of the summer event season. The coming weeks will see local agricultural shows across Northern Ireland attracting equally significant visitor numbers.
There is little doubt that consumers want to know how their food is produced. The local show societies play a key role in this regard. And all these events are co-ordinated and managed by large numbers of volunteers.
Given this backdrop, it is only right that local show societies should receive an element of core funding from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA).
A deputation from the Northern Ireland Shows’ Association (NISA) met with members of the Stormont Agriculture Committee to make this very point in recent weeks.
Let’s hope that the strong presentation made by the NISA team will generate the required end result on behalf of their member organisations.
Northern Ireland is the only region of the UK and Ireland where local agricultural shows do not receive core government support. This is an aberration which must be addressed directly by Stormont farm minister: Andrew Muir.
All the costs incurred by the local show societies, including facility hire and insurance, have strengthened dramatically over recent years. And there is only so much these organisations can do when it come to increasing ticket prices.
But irrespective of the support funding issue, the weather makes all the difference when it comes to local shows enjoying a successful event or not. Recent years have seen the first half of the summer come in warm and sunny with the rain returning in the month of July. Let’s just hope all the show societies get a fair day out in 2025
There’s no point worrying about the weather: we can’t control it.
Mind you, an odd shower of rain over the next few days would do no harm at all, in terms of boosting crop and grass growth.