The Great Yorkshire Show is a great opportunity for the Yorkshire Agricultural Society to pursue and promote its charitable aims: to support and promote farming families and British agriculture, and inspire the next generation about all things farming, food and the countryside.
All of this and more was in abundance at the 167th Show, held on 14-17 July 2026.
Here’s a round up of what our Farming Networks and Education teams got up to at this year’s Show.
Showcase of farm tech evolves in the Agri-Innovation Village
Smart solutions for powering farms and sustainable agriculture were among the forward-looking exhibits in the Agri-Innovation Village at this year’s show.
High-tech modern farming and the latest agricultural innovations were given a new home as the Show’s previous Innovation Zone was reimagined as the Agri-Innovation Village, in a new location alongside the Farm Machinery Demo Ring.
It was the fourth successive year that innovation had been given it’s own dedicated space on the Showground, and it was organised and hosted by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s Farmer Scientist Network in close collaboration with a range of partners.
Sponsored by the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority and Greene Tree, the Agri-Innovation Village was a bigger and better showcase of innovation thanks to support from event partners Harrogate-based energy management company Energy Oasis and the Royal Agricultural Society’s Farm of the Future team.
In a first for any agricultural show in the UK, the Agri-Innovation Village was powered by hydrogen, thanks to TCP Group.
Visitors also got to see a host of other firsts:
- The Bennamann Biomethane refueller, shown alongside one of the first production models of the New Holland T7 270 methane power tractor.
- The prototype Toyota Hulix H2 Fuel Cell vehicle.
- A hydrogen refuelling unit, installed for the first time at a farming event.
The Agri-Innovation Village hosted the GYS Innovation Awards, judged across four categories and with one overall winner.
Taking the top prize as the overall Innovation Awards winner was Bennamann (pictured below) for its scalable solution to upgrade biogas produced on farms into transport grade biomethane fuel.
Its biocycle upgrader can output 140,000kg of biomethane annually, with 1kg being similar to 1l of diesel. Bennamann’s innovation also picked up the award in the Engineering category.
Other GYS Innovation Award winners were:
- Agri-Tech Start Up: SealStop Valve by SealStop, a simple, portable and affordable alternative to address overflowing water containers caused by unattended hosepipes.
- Digital Innovation: TwoCan Mentor is a structured cross-industry mentoring programme built specifically for food, farming and horticulture.
- Practical Farm Innovation: Worsley Plant’s MB Crusher C50 crushes and recycles inert materials directly on site using either an excavator or a backhoe loader.
The focal point of the Agri-Innovation Village was a teepee which hosted daily industry talks covering a vast array of topics, from future farm fuels and how devolution can help feed the nation, to the use of artificial intelligence.
High profile talks
Members of the Society’s Future Farmers of Yorkshire network joined a roundtable discussion with the EFRA Committee, and took part in a podcast with Farmers Guardian.
Meanwhile, the Society’s Yorkshire Food, Farming and Rural Network, Farmer Scientist Network and close partner, Deliciously Yorkshire, hosted politicians for tours to meet farmers and businesses from the region.
Politicians visited the Show to connect with farmers. High-profile guests included the Defra team. The-then Secretary of State Emma Reynolds who, following the Cabinet reshuffle, has since been appointed Chief Secretary to the Treasury, took a tour of the Show with Farming Minister Steven Morgan and Paul Kissack, Defra’s Permanent Secretary.
Other guests included The Archbishop of York, the Most Reverend Stephen Cottrell, Members of EFRA Select Committee, York and North Yorkshire Mayor David Skaith, The Lord-Lieutenant of North Yorkshire, Jo Ropner, Defra’s Shadow Minister Victoria Atkins and MPs Robbie Moore, Katie White and Tom Gordon.
The Future Farmers of Yorkshire Breakfast Meeting on Wednesday morning looked at ‘Facts or Fads: What Food Trends Mean for Farmers’.
The discussion looked at the impact of food trends on farmers, from the use of GLP-1 medications for weight loss leading to higher demand for high protein foods to the demand for quick-cook convenience foods and a return to cooking from scratch, and how they could plan for the future.
Panellists were Rufus Pilgrim, MD of RS Cockerill, tenant farmer Eden Hill who sells meat direct to the public, Vanessa Adamson, AHDB’s Retail and Consumer Insight Manager and George Roach, third-generation poultry farmer and Director of Oakland Farms Ltd who shared their own experiences of how longer-term trends could be addressed.
Connection and celebration
Rural women were brought together by the Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s Women In Farming Network at a social event in the Agri-Innovation Village.
To celebrate the UN’s International Year of the Woman Farmer, County Durham farmer Emma Lawson and successful farm shop owner Jenny Hutchinson were in conversation, sharing the benefits of their experiences on stage, chaired by Kate Bush, Trading Director for Specialist Lines at Geo, who sponsored the get-together.
Emma is broadening her horizons as she looks to get ahead in her farming career by taking part in the Society’s Goodall Agri-Development Pathway, while Jenny grew up on a large family farm in Zimbabwe.
Younger farmers who have completed the Goodall Agri-Development Pathway enjoyed a celebratory reception at the Show (pictured below), while the current Pathfinders met industry stakeholders to broaden their horizons further.
The Farmer Scientist Network also held a social event at the Agri-Innovation Village on Tuesday afternoon.
Wellbeing support
Field Nurse, a charity working closely with the Society’s Yorkshire Rural Support Network and a YAS grant recipient had a busy show.
Based near Brown Gate, its nurses carried out 300+ free health checks and 405 people took a grip test – a reliable marker of good health – or asked for advice on physical health.
Visitors to the Field Nurse trailer on Friday included the Show’s celebrity guest Harriet Cowan, from Clarkson’s Farm, and Scottish farmer Cammy Wilson from The Sheep Game YouTube channel.
Inspiring the next generation
Excitement reached fever pitch at the Garden Show Stage on Wednesday where the winning schools in the Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s annual Veg Box Competition were revealed to a sea of expectant young visitors.
A record 31 primary schools across Yorkshire entered the competition, embracing the theme Waste to Grow to produce flourishing veg boxes grown from seed, built from scratch and decorated with care.
Chapel Haddlesey School near Selby, a small school of 80 pupils, was named the Champion growers for their entry which featured lettuce, tomatoes, micro-greens, sweet peas and more.
Their entry was led by a dedicated garden club group made up of pupils from Years 2, 5 and 6. After being revealed as winners, their pupils serenaded the audience with a song they wrote about the competition theme, to encourage recycling.
Candice Sykes, Higher Level Teaching Assistant at Chapel Haddlesey said:
This is the sixth year we’ve entered and we’d never finished higher than sixth before, so it means so much to us. The confidence the children have got from getting involved has been amazing.
The competition is headline sponsored by Asda, with further support from MYGroup, Wormganix, Grow to School, Yorganics, Cone Exchange and Pink Pig.
RHS Harlow Carr’s Suzie Orger and Tom Wiltshire judged the 10 finalists whose veg boxes remained on display for visitors to see.
Other veg box prize winners included Farsley Springbank Primary School, Leeds, who won Best Diary for the care they had taken to document their growing journey.
Richard Taylor Primary School, Harrogate won Best Decorated Box and had the extra boost of a visit from Peter Wright from Channel 5’s The Yorkshire Vet, earlier in the day.
Thousands of schoolchildren attend the Show as part of discounted group bookings and to make school visits even more accessible, the Society teamed up with Asda, Co-op and McDonald’s who kindly contributed to transport costs for some school visits.
A starting point for many schools visits was the family-friendly Discovery Zone where activities were free, couresty of the Society to connect the stories of farming and nature for young visitors.
Sponsored by National Grid, the Discovery Zone featured Little Seed Oil, new for 2026, who told the story of sustainable farming and healthy soils in a fun way, to inspire children about how nature and farming work together as part of carefully managed landscapes.
There were other activities for all ages, such as a mini Fodder food hall, drystone walling, birds of prey, crafts, wood shaving, pedal tractors, face painting and soft play, and a new dedicated gazebo offers a quiet area for families.
The 168th Great Yorkshire Show will be held on Tuesday 13 – Friday 16 July 2027
Our Farming Networks help ensure that the agricultural community is stronger, fitter and better equipped for the future.
We are passionate about educating future generations about all aspects of farming, food and the countryside.
