COMMENT: Hats off to the RUAS

It would have been a very easy decision for RUAS chief executive Alan Crowe and his team to cancel this year’s event. But to their great credit, they didn’t. As was pointed out by many of those attending on the night in question, farming people have been deprived of so many opportunities to simply meet up and enjoy each other’s company throughout 2020. Thankfully, last Tuesday evening was an exception to that rule.

Looking ahead Alan Crowe believes that the development of a Covid-19 vaccine will be a game changer, when it comes to organising large scale events in 2021. Let’s hope he’s right. The RUAS chief executive is now promising that Balmoral Show 2021 will be bigger and better than ever.

Personally, I sense that we will have a Balmoral Show next year. The question is: when will it actually take place? We might still be looking at dates in August rather than May. However, time will tell.

What remains totally certain, though, is the need for the farming and food industries to have their own flagship event. Equally certain is the even greater requirement for the industries to have their own bespoke marketing body. In a post-Brexit world, the need for agri food to grasp every new business opportunity – both home and abroad – will quickly become obvious.

Our politicians have succeeded in kicking the issue of a bespoke marketing body for the farming and food sectors into the long grass on many occasions over the past decade. The business case for having one is very straightforward: simply consider the success of Bord Bia in the Republic of Ireland.

That organisation works well because it is adequately funded and it has the right people working for it. I see no reason why we the same set of circumstances cannot be replicated here in Northern Ireland. The tremendous work already put in train by organisations such as the Livestock and Meat Commission for Northern Ireland (LMC) and the Northern Ireland Dairy Council proves that we have the people with the ability to get the job done. They just need to be adequately funded and charged with a clear mandate to effectively market food from Northern Ireland around the world.