Farmer of the Year 2016: Share your success stories with us

For all the talk of deadlines and long waits for farmers - see the Basic Payment Scheme debacle 2015 - one deadline coming up couldn't have more positive connotations.
The Yorkshire Post's Farmer of the Year Award 2016 is open for entries.The Yorkshire Post's Farmer of the Year Award 2016 is open for entries.
The Yorkshire Post's Farmer of the Year Award 2016 is open for entries.

The Yorkshire Post is urging all farmers who engage with the public - over the counter, on social media, through on-farm events and any other means - to help us celebrate their work.

In times of adversity our farmers are not shrinking into the background, they are fighting for the future of their industry and that means forging links with the public.

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The outstanding candidates for our Farmer of the Year Award 2016 - in association with law firm Mills & Reeve LLP - will be those who consistently and proudly interact with the public.

A judging panel will pick through entries in around seven weeks’ time and the Great Yorkshire Show awaits, where those vying for our trophy will come together for a celebration of how we do farming here in Yorkshire.

All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning, is to tell us how you have worked with the public over the last 12 months - despite all the threats the industry faces in the form of disease risk, problematic weather conditions, price downturns and personal hurdles.

Then it is down to our panel to decide, a highly experienced and respected line-up featuring Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s show director Charles Mills, the chairman of regional food group Deliciouslyorkshire, Judy Bell MBE, and the regional director of the National Farmers’ Union, Adam Bedford.

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This weekend in our Country Week pages we feature an excellent example of how the agricultural industry is engaging with young minds, and no doubt among them, some of the farmers of the future.

Driffield Agricultural Society is hosting an education day which will attract hundreds of young schoolchildren to learn about the basics of where food comes from. Turn to page 12 for more, where there are contact details for how you can support the event yourself.

There are countless examples of farmers and farming families across Yorkshire who are worthy of the Farmer of the Year Award 2016, so send your nomination, by post, to: Ben Barnett, Country Week, The Yorkshire Post, 26 Whitehall Road, Leeds, LS12 1BE. Or, alternatively, please email entries to ben.barnett@ jpress.co.uk

The deadline for entries is 5pm on Thursday, June 16.