Sun, sea and socialising – FG are heading to the DIY AGM

A farmer’s son from Yorkshire, Young farmers has been an integral part of John Houseman’s upbringing.

While sat in a tractor on his placement year with Harper Adams in 2019, he heard the news that the National Federation of Young Farmers Clubs (https://www.nfyfc.org.uk/) had decided to cancel their annual AGM. After setting up a Facebook event to create his own event, it snowballed and he became the founder of the Young Farmers Community DIY AGM. (https://youngfarmerscommunity.co.uk/ )

In this episode, John tells Ellie Layton, FG’s livestock reporter, all about what the event is, why it is held and the money they raise for charity.

Farmers Guardian Editor Olivia Midgley also joins the chat to discuss FG’s new presence at the event as we are set to hold the inaugural FG Live event, a conference which is putting the MEETING back in Annual General Meeting. The conference is designed to support the next generation of farmers navigate their way through key aspects of farming life such as grants, mental health, SFI and social media. 

Register for the event at: https://www.farmersguardian.com/fglive-agm24

Transcript

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You're listening to the Farmers Guardian podcast. okay. Hello, I'm Ellie Leighton, FDG livestock reporter, and I'm very excited to be talking all things young farmers ahead of our brand new FG live event, which will be held in Blackpool at this year's AGM at the start of May. In this week's episode, we speak to John Houseman, the man behind the DIY AGM which was set up following the loss of the five CBM in 2018. A farmer son from Yorkshire, John is currently working in the building industry after his time studying at Harvard University. He is a keen member of the Yorkshire Federation of Young Farmers and is still actively competing in competitions. He tells us how he came to create the DIY AGM, which turns out to be true, very humble beginnings. The weekend gives young farmers and like minded individuals a break from the farming calendar, and has raised almost 20,000 for charity. Later in the pod, we're joined by Farm's Guardian editor, Olivia midgley, who tells us what to expect from the brand new FG life event. So I hope you enjoyed this podcast for me and AGM hero John Houseman. Thanks for joining us, John. Just a little bit to start with, before we get into everything about young farmers, just a little bit about you and sort of your home system and on what you do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. At home we make dairy arable in that bed and breakfast pigs, films actually run by my dad and my uncle and, my two cousins work full time. I actually don't work at home at the moment. When I graduated from Harper, rather than going to. I couldn't go to Australia and do the harvest like I wanted to. So a friend of ours, asked if I wanted to go work, in construction. So I did a year on sites, and then the last three years I've been project managing. You'll see, going back at a time when they need me. And I do a lot through summer and stuff. And do you ever see yourself going back to the farm full time? Maybe when you're older. Perhaps. Yeah. Well, yeah, we'll just have to see how things pan out. yeah, definitely. There's potential in the future. You just mentioned that when you were in uni. So a little bit about your education. Where did you study? What did you what did you do? I went to school and then I went instead of doing A-levels, I went to ask and Bryan College and did, agriculture. I went to programs and did free all programs and a place placement. Yeah, like in the States. in Lincolnshire, which is that was the. Yeah. And the AGM started the day AGM started, should I say. Oh, brilliant. So you had a nice little bit of social life at Harper as well. Nice balance. Yeah. Definitely know lots of good people. Yeah. And I bet that's put you in good stead for then, the sort of creating the DIY AGM and how you came into that. Yeah, absolutely. There's a lot of, there's a lot of opportunity for networking. You get to meet people from all around the country. I certainly advise it to any, any young person thinking of doing something similar. And I just focus in a little bit about the DIY. They'll be probably a lot of people listening who don't know what it is. So just setting the scene a little bit, what it is and what your role in the event actually is. Well, basically, in 2018, the last year, the National Federation of Young Farmers ran the AGM event after some bad press, they decided to cancel the event. And as I said before, I was, basically on placement year. back in this section, I sat in the tractor at the time and, I saw this news, on the farm's Guardian website wasn't very happy about it. So I set up an event page and sort of within, within a couple of hours with thousands of people, decided to go. And so from there, I contacted a lot of the bars and the managers and stuff in Blackpool and gauged the interest of, of I doing sales next year. And then so that's what happened. 2019 was the first DIY AGM and sort of snowballed from there. I mean, you definitely their emotions were high when it got canceled. So I would say you picked the right time to sort of create that Facebook event and, and get things started. Yeah. From the initial point of view, it was, a complete accident really. Like, I just wanted to carry on going to the AGM myself, and I didn't want it to be canceled, and I didn't want it to be canceled for Oliver, farmers enjoy going. So that's where it was fueled from. Ready? Yeah. And like it was a very historical event. And I suppose it still is. It'd been running for over 50 years. And you can keep that going for future generations of young farmers to attend then. Yeah, that's the main aim really. The main aim is to keep, keep an annual event going as young farmers from all over the country that can come and enjoy a weekend together, enjoy a bit of time off, meet new people, and, yeah, have good fun. Why do you think it is so important for that weekend that young farmers can sort of, get away from the farm and and go on a nice sunny holiday up to Blackpool. Yeah, well, a lot of farmers are in the position where, especially if you're if you're a smaller farm, it might just be you and your dad working together all the time. Or if you're a lot of a lot, especially at this time of year with lambing, calving, people are tied down in quite isolated positions, often with long hours and not a lot of, time away from the farm. And, it's a good opportunity to, for people to get away from the farm to get away from their families sometimes as well, and just and enjoy a weekend with their friends and meeting other people that are like minded. You can talk to a little bit of all sorts about and, you know, you know, you're probably going to get on with them. Definitely. I don't think there's as many industries as that is similar to farming that you sort of work with so many generations just day in, day out. And, and I think it does give that nice little fresh air, doesn't it? Yeah, definitely. Everybody will have had some story in their life with what it's like. And it's worked on a family farm with the parents will know how it feels. Sometimes it can be frustrating. And not everybody doesn't always, not everybody always see eye to eye. But. Yeah, so, it's it's a pressure cooker of living and working with the same people day in, day out that sometimes you need a break from. Definitely. And I think just after what you said, like that lambing and cabin, it's just a nice little break post, then you can, it's something to get you through it, isn't it? Yeah, definitely. There's been a lot of charity work. The DIY of have done, and I think sometimes that can be overlooked. So do you want to tell us a little bit about how they raise money and how much money they've raised in the event since 2019? We've raised money in a number of different ways for, charity work through ticket sales and also through the sales of polo shirts, customized polo shirts. Money goes from each sale of those shirts to charity as well. So that's where the money comes from. And it's been, it's been given to the National Air Ambulance Service, basically to for all the work they do to support British agriculture in the times where farmers have needed helping from remote locations, and then the National Ambulance Service are always there to help us out. Yeah. And then the, the other the rest of the money's gone to, the Blackpool RNLI, to sort of give something back to the people of Blackpool as well. Yeah, definitely. They put up for us for, for 3 or 4 days. So it's nice to sort of give something back to them and. Yeah, exactly. Something give something back to the community of Blackpool to show some kind of appreciation for. There's a lot of people that come in over one weekend. And then so the DIY, the sort of layout of the weekend for those that don't attend it. What how does it work? As of, last year, we as the, the, National federation used to have it in the Winter gardens. We have hired out the Winter gardens to put a big event on on the Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday evening with the also, we've fg live through the day on the Saturday this year and then throughout the days obviously all the bars, the Stone gate venue. So walkabout pop world and yeah are all open through the day for people to go and enjoy young farmers area wise, where do people come from to, to to attend the event? People come from completely across the entire country. There's people from Cornwall down in southwest, there's people from Norfolk, East Midlands, West Midlands. You're a lot from Yorkshire, Lancashire, Scotland, Wales, everywhere. People come from all over and they just all attract to Blackpool for one weekend. Yeah. Last year was rough, rough numbers of about 7500 young farmers, which was yeah, yeah, it was amazing. It was really good. So John, where did the idea of FG life come from? Yeah, sort of came up with the idea of working with the farmers garden on hosting a panel of and it was sort of a conference of speakers to basically to provide something for. Yeah, for people that don't just want to completely socialize the whole weekend. They can come and learn something from different speakers about what's going on within the industry. Listen to some talks about mental health, how social media can impact, agriculture and, bits about grant schemes and stuff like that. So for the people that want to come and learn and try to, basically bring a bit of validation, a bit of credibility back from some of the naysayers. But like the old way that the national federation had it. Yeah, basically bring back some more credibility. And I think that can only be a positive thing with all the money that's raised for charity as well, that there is that validation behind it as well. Yeah, definitely. And then just sort of look into the future of the event. You've just mentioned National Young Farmers. Do you see them having a role in the future event, or is there sort of a that you see this going in both? I think we're doing a pretty good job of that. running it. How is it a moment to be honest? We've, we've had successful numbers, we've had big numbers, and we've built up over the last few years to get it to where it is today. People enjoy the system. It is. And I haven't had any contact from anybody from the National Federation of Young Farmers. So I will carry on doing it how we plan to going forward, and hopefully it carries on proving to be a success. Brilliant. Yeah, because not everyone who attends the event is a member of Young Farmers. But would you encourage them to join the organization? Yeah, absolutely. I'm still a young farmer myself. I still compete in rallies and, go to meetings and pay my annual subscriptions to the national federation. I think in itself, it's a great it's a great, it's a great thing to be a part of, whether they whether they choose to want to speak to us in the future about about them doing it themselves in the future. I'm not sure what they want to do, but from my point of view, we've done a pretty good job over the last six years now, and, we plan to carry on doing it. we've been doing it and carry on and improving and growing it and keep working forward on it. Yeah. Brilliant. So who you sort of supporting you to run the event? for running the event. two of the chaps that have run the event, Chuck Todd, Alex Huckabee and Gold Sam Hargreaves, I hope to run run the event behind the scenes and we'll work together to, to bring it. Really, there's a hell of a lot of work and organization goes in, and a serious amount of cost goes in the setting. These events up acts and stage and the insurance and the lighting and all the stuff, is massive costs. So we are lucky to be out with some sponsors sponsored by New equipment limited, provide, pig and poultry equipment, the big Dutchman equipment repair and farm services for the biggest John Deere dealership in the UK and Paddy hook hatcheries who, who provide, day old chicks for the broiler industry. Yeah. But yeah, it's brilliant that they help with some of the costs to putting the event on. And with their help, it's hopefully going to be another year that's bigger and better for the DIY AGM yet again. Yeah, absolutely. Especially the more sponsors as well we get with these big companies. It helps to bring validation to us as well, that these big companies can see the good work we're doing, and they're happy to be on board with what, with what we're doing and ultimately support the next generation of young farmers, hopefully. Yeah. Exactly that. That's that's the idea. It's the agricultural companies that they want to be that as part of the long term with in the industry and and helping the young farmers at this stage get to have, the free time. Well, hopefully, some of them will remember these companies in the future. And when I joined by Olivia midgley, editor of the Farmers Guardian, thanks very much for joining me left, Brian, thanks for having me. We're just going to talk a little bit about AFG live, which is the brand new event which is taking place in Blackpool at the start of May. Can you tell us a little bit about what it is? I sure can. Well, we just finalizing the agenda for what should be a really exciting but also thought provoking conference, which we're just really thrilled to have been asked to be to be a part of, actually. Ella. so this is AFG live and it's coming to the, Young Farmers DIY AGM, which takes place at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, as you say, on May the 4th. And what John Houseman asked us to do, who's obviously organized this event, the last couple of years. He's as well as this being a really fabulous social occasion for young farmers. It's he really wanted this to be quite, you know, a business minded conference element to what is, you know, a fantastic weekend. so we said that we put together the, the conference program for that. So I hope we've, we've we've kind of fulfilled these objectives. But yeah, we're really looking forward to it. the strapline is putting the back in AGM meeting back in and a general meeting and hopefully it'll do just that. But why do farmers guardian want to support young farmers so much? Yeah. So FJ has always been really heavily involved with the AGM, which is obviously formally been organized by NFC, but by National some of the listeners will remember us being there on the Friday of the first day of the AGM, handing out farmers Guardian t shirts and other merchandise and things. We've just always been heavily involved with it and we're really keen to see it, to see it continue, actually. we used to go, obviously where it rotated between Blackpool and, and the South-West. Obviously we were at every event. We're always reporting on the competitions and obviously the conference element to that. and I think the reason why we want to be involved is, you know, me being the editor of Farmers Guardian magazine, you know, I see these young people as our, our readers, you know, our future subscribers, hugely important to support this, this really important sector of agriculture, celebrating young people in rural communities. And I think by putting on this agenda, this, you know, this conference agenda, which really sort of a unpick some of those really key topics that are affecting young people at the moment. So we've got things, mental resilience. So we partnered up with the Farming Community Network, and they've put together a really fantastic seminar which is based around resilience. So it's about mental resilience, emotional resilience, and how that how you can improve your resilience as a person and then how that impacts your business and what you do in your working life. So that's a really good session to kick off things with. We've also got, sessions on the Sustainable Farming Incentive and the grants that are available to young people. Also something on careers from Clare Whittle, who's a is a vet. she's marketed yourself as the regenerative vet, and she's going to be talking about how career paths in agriculture aren't always linear. that there's obviously quite a lot of different career paths that you can go down. We've also got Paul Harris from Real Success, who's a really inspirational, motivational speaker, and he's got a really interesting point of view, and he's coming at it from how the older generation and the younger generation, each kind of bridge bridge that gap and how they can talk to each other better. And is it look a bit provocative? But that's what we wanted from from this. so I think that should be really good. And then we've got the Excellencies that no conference is good without really. So we've got really pleased to say we've got Ollie Harrison, Tom Pemberton, we've got Becca Wilson and Charlotte Ashley as well, who we're all from the North, like me. So it should be a really fantastic event. And we're just really looking forward to it. Brilliant. And I think this new conference really compliments on you celebrating rural communities action while on a monthly basis, we're putting in news about young farmers across the country. And I think this is a nice way to sort of get in touch and see some of the faces that we're putting in the magazine as well. Yeah, you're absolutely right, Ella. And what a fantastic, vibrant community this is as well. And as you say, you know, we've we've been reporting, you know, the real breadth of what happens across these communities in FG for many, many years. But it always really just strikes me how much these people are doing for their own communities. So, you know, a huge social element to it. but also that huge charity element. And I know that the, you know, the Young Farmers Clubs across across the country are raising thousands and thousands of pounds for charity. and the AGM this year will be no different. And I know that the organizers have already raised, tens of thousands, haven't they? For for worthwhile causes. So again, another brilliant reason to be involved in this. Definitely. So why do you think people should attend the conference? So I think that the conference program really gives people something a bit different actually, from the usual conference program. Yes, there are elements that you might see elsewhere, but I think by bringing everything together in one really punch, it's just a three hour conference. So we're packing a lot into it. It's going to be quite fast paced, which I think actually we will cover a lot of ground in a short space of time, but I don't think that's I don't think that's a bad thing at all. I think that's something that, you know, the organizers have asked is that we can we can really hit on all these key topics under one roof three hours of your time. and I think hopefully you'll feel inspired. You'll learn something and you'll feel you're so really motivated to leave that and and go on and do great things. And then how and where do you register to get involved in the event? Yes. So we have put together a fantastic page which has it's full of all the details of the event. obviously it's on May the 4th, starting at past 11 for 12 p.m.. Start the website if people head to farmers guardian.com/fg live hyphen AGM 24. And that is going to be in the bio of the parties. And of course that is quite a mouthful. But yeah, everything is on there. So all the agenda, the timings, all the speakers and their bios and their pictures and their social media profiles. So obviously you can just say everything that you want to see on that page. So just to say that again, it's farmers guardian.com and it's forward slash FG live hyphen AGM 24. And they'll also be lots online and in the magazine that you can get up to date with things as well. Yeah. So please do check that out. Well thanks very much Liv. And hopefully that will give everyone listening just a bit of a taster of what they can expect when nearly 8000 young farmers are set to flock to that pool. Wow. Yeah, that's that's a lot of young people. And we can't wait. That's all for me this week. But that will be another top notch episode of the FG podcast next week, so please subscribe on your chosen podcast platform. Thanks for listening.