Celebrating 60 years of agricultural advance

This year marks not only the 60th anniversary of Her Majesty the Queen’s coronation, but also 60 years since the granting of Livery to the Worshipful Company of Farmers.

John Reynolds, the Master of the Worshipful Company of Farmers, is flanked by the 1952 Fordson, which will be driven in the Lord Mayor’s Show by its farmer owner Andrew Streeter, and the Xerion 5000 which will be driven by Frazer Jolly, farm manager of South Pickenham Estate

The Worshipful Company of Farmers will therefore be using this year’s Lord Mayor’s Show to highlight both the role of UK farming in feeding the nation over the past 60 years, but also how the farming industry is advancing to meet future food production needs.

To demonstrate the advances made over the past 60 years, for the first time the Company has been allowed to have two machines within their section of this year’s Lord Mayor’s Show, which is being held on 10th November.

To represent the start of Her Majesty’s reign there will be a 42hp 1952 Fordson tractor, which heralded a time when mechanisation was changing agriculture, and enabling the industry to raise productivity in order to meet the increasing food production needs of a country coming out of rationing.

In 1952 the world population stood at about 2.5 billion, rising to 7 billion currently and is expected to reach 9 billion by the year 2050. Not only will this require a rise in agricultural productivity, but this will need to be achieved from a shrinking farmed area.

To achieve this, farmers will rely on increasingly larger and more sophisticated machinery, and to reflect this, the Fordson will be joined in the Lord Mayor’s Show by the latest 588hp Claas Xerion 5000 tractor. Just as the Fordson heralded advancing farm mechanisation in the 1950s, so the Xerion 5000 with its high productivity and advanced computerised operating control systems, demonstrates the sophisticated machinery and techniques that farmers will need to meet future food demand.

This year’s Lord Mayor’s Show, which is the oldest and largest civic procession in the world, will celebrate the taking of office of the 685th Lord Mayor of the City of London.

With some half a million people lining the procession route, and many more viewing the parade on television, this massive audience provides the Worshipful Company of Farmers and UK agriculture with an ideal opportunity to promote the important economic role that farmers play in producing food for the nation.

The contrast between the Fordson and the Xerion demonstrates not only how agriculture has advanced over the past 60 years but also the advanced and dynamic industry it has become.

A key role of the Worshipful Company of Farmers is to help promote the better understanding of agriculture and its role in society, but to also provide aid and support for young people within the industry and encourage the development and advancement of agriculture.

John Reynolds, Master of the Farmers Company said, “We are indebted to Claas for allowing us to show the Xerion 5000 and for their support in arranging this entry. Thanks are also due to Past Master Andrew Streeter, who very kindly agreed to drive his immaculate vintage Fordson in the parade. This year’s entry really will be something special.”