With just a week to go until the showground in Llanelwedd is once again full of visitors, exhibitors and superb livestock, The Royal Welsh Agricultural Society is looking forward to welcoming returning Winter Fair enthusiasts back to the Royal Welsh Showground.
This year’s Winter Fair will be officially opened by Abi Reader on the first day of the event (Monday 27th November).
The current NFU Cymru Deputy President, Abi Reader is a third generation mixed farmer, farming in partnership with her parents and uncle in Wenvoe just outside Cardiff. Goldsland Farm is home to 200 milking cows, 150 sheep, 90 beef cattle and 120 acres of arable.
Abi is a co-founder of Cows on Tour, a successful project aimed at improving knowledge of farming for all children, especially in urban areas, an Open Farm Sunday host, and a former NFU Cymru Wales Woman Farmer of the Year.
As well as her new role in NFU Cymru and Cows on Tour, Abi is a Board member of Wales Animal Health and Welfare Framework Group, a member of South East Wales TB Eradication Board, Chair of Cattle Health Certification Standards (CHECS), and a member of the NFU Antimicrobial Resistance Focus Group. She is a graduate of the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester and completed an MBA in Farm Business Management in 2004.
Abi is fiercely passionate that all young people should have a basic awareness of agriculture techniques and an understanding and appreciation of the ‘end product’ i.e., food, environment, horticulture, and land management. Abi has always recognised the importance of the Welsh Educational Curriculum, seeing the advantages of flexible learning techniques, which is imperative for the future of farming.
Abi will officially open the Royal Welsh Winter Fair at 10am on Monday 27thNovember in Exhibition Hall 1, Main Ring. Following the official opening, there will be presentations of the 2023 John Gittins Memorial Award, the 2024 Nuffield Scholarship and the Oxford Farming Conference Bursary 2024.
