Brompton and District Agricultural Discussion Society marks 100th anniversary

Brompton and District Agricultural Discussion Society was founded in 1921, and will celebrate its centenary with 200 guests during a dinner at the Golden Lion, Northallerton, on Friday, March 18. The guest speaker will be the vice-chairman of the NFU.

The society's original objective, which still stands to this day, is to "promote a healthy interest in agricultural matters, both practical and scientific; affording opportunities for the exchange of views on matters of importance by means of lectures, discussions, demonstrations, visits to farms and experiments".

The cover of the first ever program for Brompton and District Agricultural Discussion Society

The program for the first year shows the society had links with the University of Leeds, and several staff gave talks on topics from farm book keeping for income tax purposes, the systematic cropping of vegetables, to butter making, while other prominent agriculturalists spoke on Wensleydale sheep, British Friesian cattle, and cross breeding.

After a break during the Second World War, meetings resumed, and a packed schedule was lined up for the society's silver jubilee year in 1947/8, with lecture titles that would not look out of place on a present-day program, such as "world food situation" and "Britain's economic crisis".

The chains of office for Brompton and District Agricultural Discussion Society, showing the names of some of the earliest chairman

At present, there are about 50 members, mostly farming within a ten-mile radius of Northallerton, and the group, which is affiliated to the Institute of Agricultural Management, is currently seeing a resurgence in interest due to the relevance of the issues up for discussion, and people seeking to get out and about post-Covid.

Programme secretary, Richard Taylor said: "This year is probably the biggest there has been for changes in agriculture – we're going away from the direct support of BPS, to more focus on the environment, at a time when there is cost of living crisis, and issues around food security, with farmers determined to feed the nation."

At the time of writing, the fall-out of the conflict in Ukraine remained unclear regarding food security, but going forward, members say there will undoubtedly be a need for greater efficiency within both livestock and arable operations, and how this requirement ties in with the ELMS scheme will provide a focus for the group's discussions.

There is also a need to bring younger members of the farming community through to join the society.

Martin Morrison, chairman of Brompton and District Agricultural Discussion Society

Chairman Martin Morrison, who farms at Great Smeaton, said: "One of our main achievements is that we've kept going, and we always look to address the topics of the day. There's a lot of very successful farmers around Northallerton, it shows there's a thirst for knowledge out there."