Best of Welsh food and farming on show at Royal Welsh 2025
© Ruth Rees/RWAS The very best of Welsh agriculture, food and culture, will be on display when the Royal Welsh Show opens its gates to the public on Monday 21 July, with Caernarfonshire nominated as this year’s “feature county”.
Royal Welsh Agricultural Society chief executive Aled Jones said: “We’ve innovated quite a lot in recent years with the development of the Welsh food village, Gwledd, and interest in that is increasing year on year.”
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New features for this year include a demonstration kitchen and edible garden display, the relocation of the honey section to join the plants, and a showcase on how schools can include more vegetables into their menus.
Visitors can look forward to Land Rover’s Defender experience, and the Ukrainian Cossacks are back as a headline attraction, having last performed at the show in 2016.
JCB Agriculture will celebrate its 80th anniversary, and a collaboration between the Army, RAF and Royal Navy will see visitors zooming across the showground on a 70ft zip wire.
The new Welsh shearing and wool handling team – set to represent Wales at the 2026 Golden Shears World Shearing and Woolhandling championships in Masterton, New Zealand – will be officially announced.
And Farmers Weekly’s Britain’s Fittest Farmer competition is set to pull a crowd on Thursday 24 July in the sports village.
Safe, clean and green
With an ever-increasing focus on environmental credentials, the society is trying to be as green as possible.
The 2024 feature county Clwyd invested in solar panels – the society’s second solar project – which have been placed on the roofs of the sheep and cattle buildings.
“We’re generating a lot of green energy on site to meet the demands of the show,” said Mr Jones.
Visitors are also encouraged to car share, make use of public transport and the free shuttle bus service to and from the train station in Builth Wells.
Free drinking water stations are a standard feature and, complying with new waste management policy, there will be bins for recycling and separating waste.
“We’re trying to make sure we’re doing everything we can that we’re a safe, clean, green and responsible show,” said Mr Jones.
Celebrity judges
Actor Martin Clunes will be judging the Supreme Horse Championship on the final day of the event.
Other celebrity judges include world-renowned rugby referee and Farmers Weekly Awards 2024 Farming Champion of the Year Nigel Owens, and S4C Ffermio presenter Meinir Howells who will both judge the young handlers in the sheep section.
Bluetongue policy
All cattle, sheep and goat entries from England and Scotland have been banned for this year’s show amid bluetongue fears.
The society says the show presents a unique risk, distinct from one-day livestock markets or direct farm-to-farm movements.
“Based on the professional veterinary advice we have received, the risk of disease transmission of bluetongue is significantly higher under these conditions,” a spokesman said.
Farmers Weekly understands that the policy means a reduction of 18% in sheep entries, 30% in goats, 40% in cattle and 27% for dairy cattle.