The saying “make hay whilst the sun shines” has never been more relevant. Whilst some farmers were literally making hay and silage, the NFU was also busy with various events happing alongside the show season starting. Below is an overview of the local activity that happened in Cambridgeshire during May and a forward look to what is coming up.
May Activity
RCAT Rural Crime Training Days:
April saw the start of a series of training days hosted by RCAT in an effort to upskill response officers on the topic of rural crime, something we see a lot of here in Cambridgeshire. As part of these training days, I have been giving a presentation on the impact of rural crime on farming businesses and rural communities. The 5 events planned will continue throughout May and into June, training around 60 officers each day.
Water and Abstraction:
May has been an extremely dry month as you will be aware of. If we don’t get some rain soon, we may see a similar situation to last summer drought conditions. Following on from some engagement work with the EA last year, County Chair Alison Morris and NFU Water Resource Specialist Mark Betson now regularly meet with the EA and South Level to improve communications with abstractors. In light of this, a new WhatsApp group is being set up purely to aid comms between the EA and South Level abstractors. Please contact Alison Morris if you would like to be added to this group.
Cambridgeshire County Show:
This year we were once again in attendance to the Cambridgeshire County Show. It was such a fantastic day catching up with members and the public alike to demonstrate the vital work the NFU is doing on behalf of British Farmers and Growers. We also had a surprise visit from Ian Sollom MP (Lib Dem, St Neots & Mid Cambs) who came over to catch up with local activity from both the NFU and his parliamentary work. If you came along, thank you for stopping by and saying hello. If you didn’t catch us, we will see you there next year!
County Committee Meeting:
In May the County Committee meeting, which consists of branch chairs and vice chairs, commodity board reps, group secretaries, and county OH to discuss upcoming events as well as issues raised by members locally. We do this to ensure that we are getting the correct engagement and to be able to escalate anything from a local to a regional forum, and then if necessary to a national platform. Please do keep continuing to engage with your local reps.
Upcoming Events
NFU/HSBC Young Members Event – 5th June 2026:
For the start of June, we have a planned a Young Members event for NFU members aged 35 and under to attend the HSBC offices in Canary Wharf, London. HSBC have kindly offered to host our young members and discuss –
- How the next generation of farmers can get involved in farm finance discussions
- What a bank looks for in a great farm business or diversification project
- The skills needed to ‘take over the reins’ from the previous generation.
Open Farm Sunday – 6th & 7th June 2026:
The NFU will be in attendance to the upcoming Open Farm Sunday held at Park Farm in Thorney. If you are attending, please make sure to stop by the stand and say hello.
Pre-harvest Health and Safety Events:
June will see two pre-harvest health and safety events take place around Cambridgeshire. We have 5 topics lined up to These are free events for members to attend along with their staff, reminding them of the dangers faced during harvest time. Please follow this link to register if you haven’t already - https://www.nfuonline.com/news/nfu-pre-harvest-health-and-safety-events/
As always, please do keep an eye out for branch newsletters for the latest information or speak to me or the GS with any questions/queries. I look forward to seeing many of you soon.