Food and Farming Roadshow hits the motorways

The NFU’s Food and Farming Roadshow kicked off another packed tour of England and Wales on this week.

A roaring success with children big and small, the roadshow aims to raise public awareness of food and farming and to promote British food.

It visits nearly 150 locations - agricultural and food shows, Tesco supermarkets, farmers’ markets, farm shops and town centres throughout the summer months.

With more than a million people visiting the roadshow last year, it also provides a valuable resource in promoting the Little Red Tractor food logo to consumers.

NFU roadshow presenter Johnny Ball said: “This year, visitors will be encouraged to enter a quiz linked to the current c/o British Farming campaign, testing their knowledge on food and farming.”

The roadshow would not be possible without the financial support of the UK’s largest supermarket, Tesco.

Tesco Group Corporate Affairs Director, Lucy Neville-Rolfe said: “Tesco is proud to sponsor the food and farming roadshow as part of our on-going commitment to British farming.

“This is a great opportunity for us to work with the NFU to promote British food to our customers and teach children more about where their food comes from.”

Entertainment Rights, one of the UK’s leading media companies developing high quality children’s television programmes, is also supporting the roadshow.

The company is running a competition in conjunction with the roadshow to go behind the scenes of its new animated children’s TV show Little Red Tractor, set to air on the BBC in 2004.

The roadshow will invite budding young artists to enter the Little Red Tractor drawing competition to win a trip to the set of the new show and a visit to Cotswold Farm Park, the first park of its type in Britain.

Johnny, a Lancashire beef, sheep and arable farmer, said: “The roadshow is an integral part of the NFU’s role in raising awareness of the relationship between food, farming and the countryside.

“Many people living in an urban environment, have little or no contact with the countryside or farming. The roadshow is often the only contact many people have with the farmers that produce the food they eat everyday.”

Children visiting the roadshow will also receive a free friendly farm goody bag and an exclusive Little Red Tractor badge. The badges will be sold at supermarkets and banks across the UK with the profits going to the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI).