David Parish, who farms dairy cows and free-range chickens in a family partnership at Uffculme near Cullompton, has been elected President of the Devon County Agricultural Association (DCAA) for 2015, with this year’s Devon County Show being held from May 21 to 23.

David, 70, has been a pillar of the Devon County Show for over 30 years. He started as a Trade Stand Steward in 1984, then transferred to the Works Office and, since 1999, has been a hugely popular and hands-on Honorary Show Director.

“This is a massive honour for someone who is really just a working Devon farmer”, he said, on taking office at the DCAA’s Annual Meeting at Westpoint today.

“When I look at the names of the people who have gone before me, I find it hard to believe that I should have been chosen to follow in such distinguished footsteps.

“The Devon County Show is one of the greatest shows in the country, with its outstanding livestock, brilliant selection of West Country food and drink, a strong and growing agricultural section and displays and trade stands covering every aspect of rural life in Devon and beyond”.

David and his wife Rita farm a total of around 500 acres, centred at Mounstephen Farm, Uffculme, in partnership with his younger brother Christopher, Christopher’s son Stephen and David’s son Ian. The main enterprises are a commercial herd of 170 Friesian dairy cows, 150,000 per year free-range broiler chicken and around 220 acres of arable. Mounstephen, where David was born, is tenanted from the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution.

However, those bare facts tell only part of the story, for this is one of the most innovative farms in the area. The cows milk themselves, through three robotic milking machines, installed two years ago, so saving on labour costs, lifting milk yields and improving herd health.

And another major investment is an 80 kilowatt anaerobic digester, which uses a mixture of slurry from the cows, litter from the poultry enterprise and forage maize grown on the farm, to produce enough energy to power the entire farm, with some to spare for the national grid.

David and Rita also welcome a steady stream of bed and breakfast guests to Weir Mill Farm, where they live, on the outskirts of Willand, looking out across the beautiful Culm valley.

He says that it is the camaraderie of the Devon County Show and the many friendships which have developed from it which have kept him so closely involved for so long, although he also feels a strong commitment towards the Show’s role as a shop window for all that is best in Devon food and farming.

“The Devon County Show is still fundamentally a farming show”, he says, “but over the years, its role has broadened, so that it has become vitally important in connecting the thousands of people in Devon who have no direct involvement in farming with what is happening in food production and rural life. I’m particularly pleased that, this year, we’ll be making a special effort to attract schoolchildren to the show, working with Devon County Council’s ‘Farmwise Devon @The Devon County Show’ initiative, so that they have a better understanding of farming and the countryside, which they can carry with them through their lives.

“I’m also greatly looking forward to all of the other activities which the DCAA organises as part of its wider role of developing farming and the rural economy in the county, including Beef South West, the Lamb Shearing and Sheepdog Trials, our support for Bicton College and the Devon Young Farmers and the Devon Farm Business Awards, with the Addington Trust.

“The Devon County Show does so much good, and gives so much pleasure, to visitors and us volunteers alike, that I am more proud than you can imagine to have been elected President, for what will be our 120th show.”

The DCAA’s Annual Meeting at Westpoint today (Jan 23) also elected Nell, the Countess of Arran MBE, of the Fortescue Estate in North Devon, as its President-elect. Lady Arran is a Trustee of this year’s Devon County Show official charity, the Exmoor Calvert Trust, which enables people with disabilities to achieve their potential through the challenge of outdoor adventure in the countryside.

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