Broadway father and son, Ken and Jason Brain made sure that success stayed in the family at the Farms and Crops annual prize giving, organised by the Moreton in Marsh and District Agricultural and Horse Show Society and sponsored by Knight Frank.
Among the trophies presented to Ken, 70 and Jason, 25, from Peters Farm at Broadway, was the Farmers’ Ball Challenge Bowl for Champion Farm. It’s a title they also won at the Gloucester Root, Fruit and Grain Society and it’s the second time in three years that the 1000-acre Peters Farm has achieved the double.
On a night when more than 140 farmers and their families gathered in Timothy’s Restaurant at the Fosseway Garden Centre in Moreton in Marsh, Ken and Jason also picked up impressive trophies for their Winter, Spring and Malting Barley and for Jason’s drilling prowess.
Jason, a fourth-generation farmer on the land first worked as a tenant by his great-grandfather Frank in 1920 said his success was all down to the way he’d been taught by Ken. ‘I could not have asked for a better teacher,’ said Jason. ‘Making things work in farming is all about attention to detail.
‘I think that Brexit means that it’s going to be a turbulent time for farmers. We’re in for a hard few years before things get better again.’
James MacCurrach from Tagmoor Farm, near Bourton on the Water won the Colburn Cup for conservation and the Norton Air trophy for his Winter Oil Seed Rape. Alan Smith, of CW Smith and Son from Kingham Hill Farm took home the Harry Ferguson Trophy for the best large farm and the Williams & Hawkins Cup for their champion grass.
The Society, which organises Moreton Show – one of the biggest one-day agricultural shows in the country – also presented three long service awards to Rob Taylor, Tony Kirsting and Mark Stevens from the Stowell Park Estate, near Northleach.
All the results of the Farms and Crops Competition are on the website at www.moretonshow.co.uk. This year’s Moreton Show is on Saturday, September 1.
