A WIDE ranging programme of daily seminars will be held at the Great Yorkshire Show for the first time this year.

Each day different topics will be tackled by a host of speakers who will share best practice and inspire producers.

Charles Mills, show director, said: "One of our key aims as an agricultural society is to encourage and promote innovation and efficiency in the British farming industry.

"Amongst our 130,000 or so visitors are tens of thousands of farmers who are passionate about what they do and who are keen to drive their businesses forward.

"Yes we care for the countryside, but to survive we have to be profitable and the two are most definitely not mutually exclusive."

Under the heading "Agricultural Innovation in the North of England," the seminars will be held within the Yorkshire Agricultural Society's new £11.5 million exhibition hall which opened this month.

The wide ranging programme includes a look at the future without pesticides which will be presented by the Society's Farmer Scientist Network on the second day at 5pm.

On the first day, at 8.30am, the problems of rural crime will come under the spotlight when North Yorkshire Police Commissioner, Julia Mulligan, will unveil results of new research in her role as chair of the National Rural Crime Network, and on the second day at 2pm Jo Speed, a North East dairy farmer, will give her perspective on being a Nuffield Scholar.

Opportunities to expand into foreign markets will be to the fore as UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) is bringing a delegation from Serbia to discuss how British producers can tap into Serbian consumer needs.

Farm health and safety issues will be discussed by the Health & Safety Executive and the NFU, and the threat of cybercrime will be the hot topic of Yorkshire rural insurance brokers, McClarrons.

The role of research will feature in talks by the Centre for Innovation Excellence in Livestock (CIEL) and centre for Crop Health and Protection (CHAP) as they look at innovation in the industry. There are also talks by Bioval, N8 Agrifood and Newcastle University.

The seminars are free but registration in advance is needed. For full details and to book a place see greatyorkshireshow.co.uk/visitors/agriculture-at-the-show/agricultural-seminars-2016