Good news regarding funding and developments in training were among the announcements made by Steering Group Chairs during their reports at February’s NFYFC Council meeting.

All groups elected new Chairs and Vices at the meetings held the day before Council and discussed programmes of work for the year ahead.

Encouraging news that Defra had reinstated the offer for NFYFC to apply for a discretionary, annual grant was met with applause. Announcements about new training opportunities, improved entry systems for competitions and a membership survey on the horizon, all contributed to giving Council members a positive outlook for the year ahead.

For an overview of the steering group reports, read more under the headings below.

YFC AGRI

New YFC AGRI Chair: Nathan Greenwood from Yorkshire

New Vice Chair: Jessica Radnor from Herefordshire.

Co-options: Jessica Radnor, Holly Gilbert and Chris Lake.

Outgoing Chair Robbie reviewed the last 12 months of activity for the group, which included supporting NFU campaigns, attending Groundswell, sitting on roundtables with industry leaders and ministers, and responding robustly when policies shifted suddenly, including the overnight withdrawal of SFI applications in March.

Highlights included:

• Details of a new Land Match England service have been added to NFYFC’s Agricultural Knowledge Hub, giving members better access to opportunities around land mobility and collaboration.
• Entries to the Business Innovation Challenge have now closed but the resources will be integrated into the Agricultural Knowledge Hub to give members ongoing access.
• Defra recently reinstated the offer for NFYFC to apply for a discretionary, annual grant and a final proposed grant will be submitted shortly. All funders who were kind enough to consider stepping in to support a funding gap have been advised of this recent change and continue to offer their additional support.
• This year’s YFC AGRI Study tour will be to The Isle of Man and will take place during October half term. Expressions of interest will open shortly.
• Plans are underway to resurrect the AGRI Forum in 2026, following April's AMC in Montgomeryshire.

Competitions

New Competitions Chair: Sophie Olds from Cornwall

New Vice Chair: Rebecca Ludlow from Oxfordshire

Co-options: Anna Booth from Yorkshire, Sophie Pratt from Devon and Dorothy Hathaway from Oxfordshire and Dorothy will also continue to be Tug of War rep for the Tug of War Association.

A new rep is needed to the English Winter Fair to shadow Fay at the 2026 show and anyone interested in taking on the role should contact Margaret Bennett.

Outgoing Chair Ellie Wilson shared the following highlights:

• Counties and Areas need to apply for their Tug of War permits.
• Discounted tickets for Great Yorkshire Show will be available soon for YFC members.
• Discounted British Wool shearing courses are now available to book online and uptake has been good so far.
• The order for the Entertainments competition in April will be as follows:
  • Saturday 25 April: Southwest Area B, West Midlands Area, South West Area A and Northern Area A.
  • Sunday 26 April will be: Wales B, Northern Area B, Wales A and East Midlands Area.
• There will be a Competitions Day raffle again this year and this will be online in the run up to the event.
• Volunteers are needed for Competitions Day on 4 July – and anyone who is interested in supporting should contact Margaret Bennett.

Membership Experience

New Membership Experience Chair: Kayleigh Lovegrove from Devon.

Two new Vice Chairs: Hermoine Moore from Wiltshire and Ben Johnson from Norfolk

Co-options: Thomas Oatey from Cornwall, Georgina Taylor from Worcestershire and Will Grovestock from Hertfordshire.

Outgoing Membership Chair Jessica Rose explained YFC Travel had now been moved into this group’s remit and the group agreed the travel trips that would be advertised for 2027 for members to apply for in September.

Highlights included:

• Young Farmers Ambassadors will present a cheque at the Annual Meeting of Clubs (AMC) for £2,000 to support the YFC Travel programme.
• A Young Farmers Ambassadors reunion will take place in Devon from 30 October to 2 November in the Courtyard Hotel, Exeter.
• The ski trip will happen again with 40 spaces. The resort and accommodation are under review.

As well as the three Rural Youth Europe trips, the 2027 locations include:

• Projects Abroad Volunteering trips will be to Cambodia and Mongolia.
• The Group travel trip with Flooglebinder will be to Thailand and a Field Farm Tours trip to Egypt.
• A new shorter trip will be introduced with Hays Travel to Athens.
• The Richard Wigram Working Scholarship to Australia will be available again
• The Five Nations Conference will be held in Wales this year.

Membership and marketing updates

• The membership survey for 2026 will be launched at the Annual Meeting of Clubs and will focus on the rural youth challenges, barriers and opportunities.
• Membership figures are ahead of where the organisation was this time last year and four counties, Derbyshire, Oxfordshire, Suffolk and Essex, have surpassed their total for last year already.
• The group is looking at ways to support Farm Fest on 22-25 May and discussed the possibility of a family activity to help promote YFC. YFC members can save 50% discount on the ticket price to the event.
• Dates for the 2026 Achiever Awards are to be confirmed in March.
• National Young Farmers' Week will be 5-9 October, and the theme will be ‘Belonging’.
• The Scarecrow Challenge will be this year’s club challenge again due to its popularity last year. Entry details will be promoted in June to allow everyone time to prepare.
• More details on plans for the week will be shared ahead of the campaign, with toolkits, templates and resources available for clubs.

Training

New Training Chair: Rosie Finney from Lincolnshire

Vice Chair: Alice Wood from Derbyshire.

Co-options: Polly Baines, Alice Wood and Tom Sellar from Gloucestershire.

Highlights included:

• The Training group has replaced the former Personal Development Steering Group and will now focus on training opportunities for members.
• The Train the Trainer course has been revamped and will be available as one day, rather than two, to help improve uptake of the course.
• If you or anyone in your counties is looking to become a trainer, please contact training@nfyfc.org.uk for more information.
• All trainers now require a DBS check and to complete the online safeguarding training.
• A refresher online safeguarding training course will be available soon.
• The Curve will now be known as the Learning Curve and is being revamped. There will be seven core modules that will need to be delivered by YFC Trainers, with the addition of county roadshows. The remaining modules will be available for clubs to deliver during meetings.
• The group is looking to revive the Chairs' Forum, including a WhatsApp group for Chairs to discuss ideas.
• The group is involved in helping to prepare and suggest ideas for the One Team Conference in 2027.

NFYFC Council reps will share all the updates from the Council meeting with their committees. Please speak to your County office to contact your Council rep if you would like more information.