Show hosts fittest farmer as part of health & wellbeing focus

Being fit to farm will be in the spotlight at this year’s Great Yorkshire Show to highlight the importance of both physical and mental wellbeing.

A series of events at the 166th Great Yorkshire Show (Tuesday 8 – Friday 11 July) will encourage visitors to consider how best to look after their health, from easy exercise tips and panel chats to free farmer health checks and gruelling tests of physical steel.

Rachel Coates, farmer and show director said: “Farming is round the clock with lots of competing duties so it can be easy to neglect your own wellbeing. I hope that the focus on mental and physical health at the Show is a useful reminder to take the time to look after ourselves and one another.”

Farmers can visit the field nurse trailer near Brown Gate on any day of the show to get a free health check and to find out about its Farming Stronger for Longer Campaign which promotes daily strength and conditioning exercises for farmers to replicate at home.

For the first time ever, the show will host a heat of Britain’s Fittest Farmer, on the Young Farmers’ lawn throughout Tuesday. The national competition is brought to the show by Farmers Weekly and will see farmers compete in a series of physical challenges on the Young Farmers lawn, behind the food hall.

Farmers Weekly managing editor Emma Northam said: “As farming becomes less active and more mechanised and office-based, it’s more important than ever before to make sure Britain’s farmers are getting the exercise that they need to stay fit and healthy.

“Farming can also be an isolating job, which is why it is also vital for farmers to focus on their own mental health and wellbeing so that they can keep their business in tip-top condition too. By running this competition, we’re looking to crown four individuals who prove themselves to be admirable ambassadors of health and wellbeing in farming.”

Health and wellbeing will be in focus at the countryside area where two talks at the Countryside Voices Stage on Tuesday will explore rural wellbeing. At 11.30am, a panel will discuss developing support and building resilience around mental health and at 2.30pm, the topic turns to the challenges rural communities face to maintain good physical health.

The 11.30am panel chat is repeated at the same time on Thursday.
Daphne Bourne-Arton, chief steward of the countryside area, said: “This is such a monumentally important subject in this day and age. I hope that talking and having the opportunity to ask questions will help anyone who is feeling, or knows someone who is feeling, not quite right. Please do come, you are very welcome.”

In the Innovation Zone on Thursday at 4pm, the role women play in supporting the health and wellbeing of their families will be the topic of a Women In Farming drop-in social with guest speaker, Lucia Slack, a mental health nurse in Cumbria who has been awarded a Nuffield Farming Scholarship, sponsored by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society.

There will also be sessions to give farmers a boost as they look at the next steps for their farm business at the Ariat GYS Stage. Future Farmers of Yorkshire’s Breakfast Meeting on Wednesday morning will offer practical ways to improve profitability, and on Friday morning, the Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s Navigating the Budget event will offer expert guidance on adapting to inheritance tax changes.

The Great Yorkshire Show will be held from Tuesday 8 July to Friday 11 July, on the Great Yorkshire Showground in Harrogate. Tickets are in advance only and are on sale now. The Show brings together the very best of British agriculture, attracting 140,000 visitors and 8,500 exhibiting animals for a four-day celebration of farming, food and the countryside.
Don’t miss a round up of all the action from each day of the show, with Great Yorkshire Show: Behind the Scenes on the Great Yorkshire Show’s YouTube channel each evening.

Ahead of the show, a new GYS App is available to download to help visitors get the most out of their visit. It features an interactive map, full event timetables and trade stand listings.

Extra flexibility is being offered to farmers to access the show. Available for those working in the industry, farmer tickets are discounted and can be used on any day of the show. Farmer tickets are available to purchase, subject to availability, in person at select farming outlets. Online farmer tickets are now sold out.