On Thursday 31st October, Staffordshire County Federation of Young Farmers Clubs (YFC) held their County AGM in the Ingestre Suite, County Showground, Stafford. The evening was kindly supported by Pickering and Butters Solicitors, a firm of Staffordshire Solicitors who were founded over a century ago, with offices based in Stafford and Rugeley. Katie White, Head of Department for Business at Pickering & Butters said “We are honoured to continue our long association with Staffordshire YFC by sponsoring their 2024 AGM. We look after the interests of many clients in the rural community, including those from the younger generation. We are privileged to be given the opportunity to support Staffordshire YFC by sponsoring events such as the AGM and we hope our relationship with Staffordshire YFC will continue to flourish.”
The County AGM was attended by over 200 invited guests and members of the Federation and is the most prestigious meeting of the Staffordshire YFC year.
James Freeman gave his Chairman’s Report on the last year of all things Staffordshire YFC , highlighting their favourite memories and moments along the way including we wettest Staffordshire County Show for years and a successful charity luncheon which has allowed the Federation to purchase our own defibrillator. James, a member of Chase Young Farmers said “It has genuinely been one of the best years of my life after having some truly amazing experiences. It hasn’t always been plain sailing, but it has honestly been one of the most enjoyable years and an absolute sheer delight and honour to be the County Chairman of Staffordshire YFC.”
During his report, James also presented the Federation with a new award for the Most Outstanding Individual Stock judger of the year. This year, the award was presented to Adele Sweetmore of Waterhouses YFC.
It was reported by Cathie Hurdman, County Organiser, during the meeting that Staffordshire YFC had 585 members aged 10 – 28 years at 31st August 2024.
John Stone was re-elected the County President for a second year. John said “Thank you for electing me again as your County President, it is a privilege to serve the federation for a second year. I have been made to feel very welcome at all club events. It has been great to see the friendship and fun factor as well as a lot of hard work behind the scenes in all clubs. Please keep up the good work in your clubs, county and the wider community to promote YFC.”
Richard Robinson was re – elected as the Senior Deputy President for the Federation.
The presentations of awards were made by Mr Tim Williams, Staffordshire & Birmingham Agricultural Society Chairman, to the following Clubs and Individuals:
Most Outstanding County Officer: Andy Hill, Social and Funding Chairman.
David Palij Award: Awarded to the Club that has done the most for charity/community work during the last 12 months.
Winner: Ashley YFC; Runners up: Uttoxeter JNFU
Manifold Marketing Award: Awarded to the Club who best promotes their Club and engagement in Club, County & Community Events.
Winner: Eccleshall YFC; Runners-up: Ashley YFC
The Richard Mottershead Club Programme Award: Awarded to the Club gaining the highest number of points within the Club Efficiency Competition for the Club Programme section.
Winner: Ashley YFC; Joint Runners up: Chase YFC and Eccleshall YFC
Scrapbook Award: Awarded to the Club who produces the most interesting and unique scrapbook based on the activities of their own Club over the past membership year.
Winner: Ashley YFC; Runner Up: Eccleshall YFC
Junior Stockjudging Cup: Winner: Leek YFC and Uttoxeter JNFU; Runners Up: Ashley YFC, Lichfield YFC and Waterhouses YFC
Intermediate Stockjudging Cup: Winner: Chase YFC; Runners Up: Uttoxeter JNFU and Waterhouses YFC
Senior Stockjudging Cup: Winner: Waterhouses YFC; Runner Up: Eccleshall YFC.
Overall Stockjudging Cup: Winner: Eccleshall YFC and Waterhouses YFC; Runner Up: Leek YFC.
Overall Cup for the County Show: Winner: Cheadle YFC; Runner up: Eccleshall YFC
Most Improved Club – Competitions Cup: Awarded to the Club that has achieved the highest improvement in points for competitions from the 2022/23 year.
Winner: Cheadle YFC; Runner Up: Leek YFC
Small Clubs Trophy: Awarded to one of the four smallest Clubs in the County with regard to membership, that has achieved the most points throughout the year for competitions.
Winner: Cheadle YFC; Runner Up: Lichfield YFC
Mr Ken Unwin MBE Memorial Cup: Awarded to the Club who most improves in Public Speaking, Stock Judging, Carcase Judging and Tug of War.
Winner: Eccleshall YFC; Runner Up: Ashley YFC
David Stubbs Award: Awarded to the Club who most improves in Dairy Stockjudging, Stockman/Young Stockjudge of the Year and Carcase Judging.
Winner: Eccleshall YFC; Runner Up: Lichfield YFC
Overall Competitions Cup: Presented to the club with the most points for the Competitions that have been held for the last 12 months:
Joint Winners: Eccleshall YFC and Uttoxeter JNFU; Runner Up: Chase YFC
W.H.D. Hobson Cup: Awarded to the Club with the highest increase in membership.
Winner: Lichfield YFC; Runner Up: Eccleshall YFC
Newsletter Shield: For the best contribution to the Young Farmers’ Book of the Year
Winners: Ashley YFC; Runner Up: Eccleshall YFC
The Staffordshire YFA Travel Ambassador Award: Jessica Powell and Polly Baines who went on the Farm Exchange Tour to Albania in October 2024.
Staffordshire YFC/FCN Kindness & Compassion Award: This was awarded to George and Paddy, brothers from Ashley YFC for their kindness to the elderly in their local community and also at home with a family member.
Mr & Mrs W.A. Taylor Senior Merit Award: Awarded to the most outstanding individual at Club or County level.
This was presented to Molly Sammons of Eccleshall YFC. Molly was the Club Secretary for Eccleshall YFC as well as a Competitions Chairman for the County. During the year she has made an outstanding contribution including coordinating the Clubs Speed Shear, weekly activities and stewarding and promoting numerous competitions and events.
Emily Cartmail of Eccleshall YFC was the Runner Up Member for this award.
Junior Merit Award: This is presented to the most outstanding junior individual at Club or County level. This was presented to Tom of Lichfield YFC. Tom has been an outstanding Club Chairman and shown great leadership skills. His enthusiasm and encouragement have ensured that Lichfield YFC have had a very successful year. He has been described as “the true definition of a young farmer and inspiring rural young leader.”
Katie O’Nions of Eccleshall YFC was the Runner Up Member for this award.
NFYFC Certificates of Achievement were also presented to all members who had taken part in the National Federation of Young Farmers finals of various competitions throughout the year.
As part of their ongoing support to Staffordshire YFC, The Staffordshire and Birmingham Agricultural Society kindly sponsored two places for members to attend The Oxford Farming Conference, which is a highlight of the agriculture and food industry calendar and held in January 2025. After submitting a 500-word statement giving reasons as to why they should attend, Danny Emmott and Andy Hill were both chosen to represent Staffordshire YFC at this prestigious event.
The final awards of the evening are the most prestigious to receive and are judged throughout the year as a “Club Efficiency” Competition, which encapsulates all aspects of a YFC Club. The aim of the competition is to encourage members and Club Officers to work together as an effective team for the benefit of all members. Judges look for all aspects of how the clubs are run and hope to see good club administration and record keeping, strong leadership and governance and active promotion of the clubs through publicity and community engagement. They also want to see teamwork, ideas and enthusiasm from all club members. From this competition, the following awards were presented:
Most Outstanding Chairman: Winner: Hollie Kelly, Chase YFC
Runner-up: Tom Harrison, Lichfield YFC
Most Outstanding Secretary: Winner: Liv Larsson, Ashley YFC
Joint Runners-up: Kate Oakes, Chase YFC & Molly Sammons, Eccleshall YFC
Most Outstanding Treasurer: Winner: Archie Woodward, Leek YFC
Runner-up: William Matthews, Ashley YFC
Most Outstanding Club Leader: Winner: James Freeman, Chase YFC
Joint Runners-up: Natalie Bradley & Emily Cartmail, Eccleshall YFC
Club Efficiency Shield: Joint Winners: Ashley YFC & Chase YFC
Runner-up: Leek YFC
Photos from The evening can be found HERE
The Carcase Judging Competition was held by kind permission of TG Sargeant & Sons. Well done to all competitors and thanks to the hosts, judges, stewards, scorers and also to the Farmers Arms for hosting us for the result giving afterwards – superb hospitality as always.
Pictures are available HERE
Results as follows;
21 & UNDER – BEEF
1ST Jessica Yardley Eccleshall 135pts
=2ND Oliver F Chase 128pts
=2ND Abigail P Uttoxeter 128pts
21 & UNDER – PORK
1ST Meg Harvey Eccleshall 95pts
2ND Adele S Waterhouses 89pts
3RD George Large Cheadle 88pts
28 & UNDER – BEEF
1ST Hollie Kelly Chase 140pts
2ND Connor Whitehead Eccleshall 138pts
3RD Rob Mollatt Uttoxeter 136pts
28 & UNDER – PORK
=1ST Emily Cartmail Eccleshall 92pts
=1ST Kate Oakes Chase 92pts
3RD James Freeman Chase 90pts
OVERALL TEAMS
1ST ECCLESHALL 460pts
=2ND CHASE B 431pts
=2ND CHEADLE 431pts
On Sunday 28th July, several clubs took part in the Annual Raft Ride
Results were;
FEMALE
1ST – UTTOXETER
2ND – ECCLESHALL A
3RD – STONE
MALE
1ST – UTTOXETER A
2ND – CHEADLE
3RD – ECCLESHALL
Photos from the evening can be seen HERE
The Pre Show Reception this year was kindly supported by HSKSG Accountants, Abbotsholme School and Farmart. Results from the following competitions on the night were :
Leslie T Chester ‘Blog’ Writing Competition
1st – Emily Cartmail – Eccleshall YFC
2nd – Kate Oakes – Chase YFC
3rd – Olivia Lockett – Ashley YFC
YFC’s Got Talent Competition
1st – Eccleshall YFC – Ruby O Riley
2nd – Uttoxeter JNFU – Abi Palmer
This year Stockman of the Year competition was held bkp of The Goldstraw Family, Huddale Farm, Colton, Waterhouses. 8 clubs took part on the day, which each member having to judge, place and give reasons in the following categories, beef, dairy, breeding ewes and butchers lambs.
The results were:
Young Stockjudge of the Year (18 & under)
1st – Waterhouses YFC, 2nd – Eccleshall YFC, 3rd – Uttoxeter JNFU
Stockman of the Year (28 & under)
1st – Eccleshall YFC, 2nd – Waterhouses YFC, 3rd – Chase YFC
18 & Under Stockjudge of the Year
1st – Adele (Waterhouses YFC), 2nd – Adam (Uttoxeter JNFU), 3rd – Jess (Eccleshall YFC)
28 & Under Stockjudge of the Year
1st – Rob (Eccleshall YFC), 2nd – Peter (Waterhouses YFC), 3rd – Will (Eccleshall)
Overall Stockjudging Team (18 & under & 28 & under)
1st – Waterhouses YFC, 2nd – Eccleshall YFC, 3rd – Leek YFC
Prize money on the day was kindly donated by Staffordshire & Birmingham Agricultural Society.
Photos from the day can be found HERE
Photos from the day can be found HERE
On Sunday 3rd March, members headed to Basford Shooting Ground for the Clay Pigeon Shooting Competition. Thanks to all that took part, stewarded and helped in any way. Many thanks to the team at Basford Shooting Ground for hosting us.
Results as follows;
Mens 28yrs & under
1st – Aaron Bagshaw, Waterhouses
Joint 2nd – Joe Mollatt, Waterhouses & Phil Hall, Chase
Ladies 28yrs & under
Joint 1st – Hollie Kelly, Chase & Lizzy James, Leek
2nd – Vic Astle, Waterhouses
17yrs & under
1st – Tom Harrison, Lichfield
2nd – Jack H, Lichfield
3rd – Ed F, Chase
This competition is a qualifier for the NFYFC competition to be held in July and we wish the following luck at this competition;
Aaron & Joe from Waterhouses and Tom & Jack from Lichfield
Images available HERE
From the the 3rd to 5th January I attended the Oxford Farming Conference following SBAS kindly awarding me one of their YFC scholarships at the SFYFC AGM in November 2023.
Day 1 round-up
Panellist Hannah Darby, an arable farmer from Huntingdon, discussed the benefits of using companion cropping and winter cover crops to help reduce soil temperature and water evaporation in hot summers, and to increase water uptake and prevent surface run off in the winter months. Both of these options can be taken up by farmers as part of the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI).
Mike Green from BASF talked about Project Fortress, which is trialling solutions for dealing with extreme weather, soil health and profitability. Herbal leys grazed by sheep in areas of the farm that have been notoriously difficult due to soil type, have been extremely effective in increasing soil health while still offering some output in the form of grazing. Herbal Leys can be incorporated into the rotation as part of SFI, so can be funded while being a useful solution to increasing soil health.
Martin Andersson, a mixed farmer from Sweden, also talked about the importance of knowing your soil and employing efficient technology such as GIS. By undertaking the right soil and nutrient analysis, yields have been increased and inputs reduced by effective application of nutrients. Again, soil testing and nutrient management can be funded by SFI.
Day two round-up
Regenerative agriculture hype or hope?
Leading innovators discussed their hopes for regenerative farming and the ways in which it can help deliver pest, nutrient and soil improvements. Dr Elizabeth Stockdale, head of farming systems at NIAB, talked of ways regenerative practices can be adapted for almost all farms to sustainably intensify.
Antony Yousefian, vice president of climate and circularity and partner of The First Thirty, gave insights on the potentially marketable health benefits of sustainably produced food which can often have much higher levels of nutrients as well as the environmental benefits that have the potential to be valuable in mitigating flooding.
OFC 2024 Report Launch “Is the UK food supply chain broken?”
Ged Futter, a food retail expert, presented a report stating that the practice of farmers subsidising consumers’ appetite for cheap food cannot continue. After years of crisis as a result of Brexit, the Ukrainian War, the Covid-19 pandemic and high levels of inflation, farming’s confidence is at an all-time low.
The report was discussed by several influential panellists, including Tom Bradshaw, NFU vice president. He stressed that consumers must understand the value of sustainably produced food and that it must be clarified who is liable to pay for this sustainability – the government or the consumer.
Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Barclay, summarised the Conservative manifesto for agriculture. Most notably, he announced additional Sustainable Farming Incentive Options for 2024, to add to those that have been available in 2023.
In addition, recognising that the existing payment rates did not incentivise the scheme, payment rates have been increased by an average of 10%. From this summer, it will be possible to apply for Countryside Stewardship and Sustainable Farming Incentive options in a single application, to allow farmers to have a flexible agreement which suits their individual farming business. The minister summarised the manifesto as more money, more choice and more trust.
Politics Discussion Session
The politics session featured interesting insights from Caroline Van Der Plas, party leader of the Farmer Citizen Movement (Netherlands), Stuart Roberts, food and farming advisor to the Liberal Democrats and Steve Reed, OBE, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Mr Reed outlined Labour’s proposed new deal for farmers which featured low priced, sustainable energy to be made available to farmers, an increase in British food for schools and hospitals, higher food exports to neighbouring countries and an increase in flood protection for farms.
Address by The Princess Royal, Princess Anne
The Princess Royal summarised the challenges faced by farmers over the long history of the conference and the industry’s ability to adapt to events such as conflict and poor weather. She emphasised that farming is a family enterprise that has a deep understanding of long-term value.
The Agricultural Transition and Environmental Land Management (ELM) and Latest State of Play from DEFRA
Jonathan Baker, DEFRA deputy director, updated delegates on the SFI offering which will be open for applications in summer, 2024. To incentivise the scheme, payment rates were being increased by an average of 10%, which will automatically apply to those with live 2023 agreements as well as those who apply in 2024.
Jim Egan, of Frontier, summarised the SFI options, including the importance of selecting options to benefit the farm rather than just those with the highest payment rates. Also, the importance of record and evidence keeping and ensuring that all scheme benefits, including its flexibility, are seen by farmers.
Day three round-up
Farming a Greener Future – The diverse role of livestock with AHDB
Professor John Gilliland, OBE, environment consultant to the AHDB, highlighted the success of pilot schemes on dairy farms in Northern Ireland where soil testing of all fields was conducted, alongside the mapping of all habitats, such as trees and hedges. The trial saw an 80% change in farmer behaviour, with trial farmers feeling that soil testing helped them to not only meet the requirements of their milk contracts, but also to become more efficient and profitable in applying nutrients. Similar options are available currently within the SFI in England.
Diversified Leadership – Could Farming Do Better?
Minette Batters, NFU president, reflected on her term leading the union and the importance of breaking barriers as a female leader. She closed her address by urging the government to recognise the importance of farmers and food production when compiling Environmental Land Management (ELM) strategies.
Professor David Hughes of Imperial College London, encouraged farmers to lead on issues relating to food production, employing regenerative techniques and sustainable farming, stating that early uptake will prevent a “Go Green or Go Broke” situation.
Getting People into Agriculture – Could Diversity Fix Farming?
Nick Evans, managing director of Oxbury Bank, spoke of the importance of encouraging new entrants into farming, especially those with an agricultural background that may not have a family farm. The Oxbury New Gen offers 100% funding and business and financial advice to new entrants.
I think that attending the conference was of great benefit to me, as someone in the early stages of her career. It was great to ‘have my finger on the pulse’, so to speak, regarding policy making.
My highlight was hearing from multiple speakers with a progressive mindset that were all hopeful for the future of farming. At present the agricultural industry is undergoing some of the biggest changes in policy and practice since the Second World War, but the conference summed up that, although the industry can be a scary place for farmers at the moment, with challenge comes opportunity.
I was also very privileged to attend the debate regarding the impact of livestock farming on nature recovery in protected landscapes, a hotly disputed topic with some insightful views from industry experts. This was followed by the dinner held at Christchurch College, which allowed me to network with fellow delegates.
Overall, the conference was an excellent opportunity and I cannot thank the society enough for their generosity in supporting YFC members attending this event. I would encourage any of my fellow members to apply in future years as it is truly a great opportunity and I feel very privileged to have been selected as a delegate in 2024. 
By Kate Oakes
