930 people celebrate British agriculture at the Farmers Weekly Awards

An extraordinary blend of royalty, comedy, singing and sheer good farming marked the climax of this year’s Farmers Weekly Awards in London, writes Farmers Weekly’s David Cousins .

More than 930 farmers, contractors and industry figures came to the Grosvenor House Hotel last night (Wednesday), making it farming’s biggest sit-down dinner of the year.

Some of those streaming through the doors were farming A-list figures such as NFU president Peter Kendall, junior DEFRA minister Lord Rooker and Sir Don Curry.

Others were household names: Sophie, Countess of Wessex or famous voices like the actors who play David and Ruth Archer, Brian Aldridge and Eddie Grundy from The Archers.

And some were simply powerful industry figures like Sainsbury boss Justin King, McDonalds chairman Steve Easterbrook and senior executives from Tesco and M&S.

But mostly they were farmers, contractors and advisors anxious to hear who had won the 13 Farmers Weekly Awards categories that ranged from Dairy Farmer of the Year to Farming Champion of the Year.

The evening kicked off with 40 nine-year-olds from  in Sussex who sang Cauliflowers are Fluffy and Food Glorious Food while an army of waiters bore salmon, lamb and apple and plum pie (all British, of course) to the assembled diners.

Then it was over to comedian and impersonator Jon Culshaw from Radio 4’s Dead Ringers to present a unique slant on farming through the voices of everyone from George Bush to Les Dawson.

And Mitch Benn from Radio 4’s The Now Show got perhaps the greatest laughs for his hard-hitting, and cruelly witty songs.

Next was the Oscar-style awards ceremony, culminating in RASE president Sophie, Countess of Wessex handing over the gold Farmer of the Year ploughshare to John Geldard from Cumbria to tumultuous applause.

Finally at 11pm, The Dark Blues – fronted by Hertfordshire musician and farmer Nigel Tully – took to the stage and the dancing continued until 2am.

It was all good fun, of course and the point of the evening was to celebrate some breathtakingly good farmers, contractors and advisers.

But the presence of the schoolchildren was important too. Not just because this is the Year of Food and Farming, but because the industry seems finally to be getting across the message to the current generation of youngsters (and their parents) that good, realistically priced and locally produced food is vital to all our futures.

• For more information on the event visit our Farmers Weekly Awards – Special report