Steve Hughson, Chief Executive, RWAS
For this month’s Breakfast Club our guest speaker was Steve Hughson, Chief Executive of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society (RWAS). Steve has just completed his first year as Chief Executive for the RWAS, prior to which he held the position of Head of Territorial Policing for Dyfed Powys Police.
Steve began his talk by drawing attention to some of the challenges facing the agriculture industry, listing the need to find new ways of producing food to meet the growing demand, climate change, animal welfare, water security and pressure to farm in a more environmentally way as some of the most significant ones.
The Royal Welsh hosts three shows throughout the year, with the Summer event being the largest show in Europe. Over 241,000 attended last year’s event, with 7,500 livestock entries, 1,000 volunteers and over 200 tradestands over the 4 day event.
However, Steve was keen to stress that the society was ‘more than a show’ but ‘a brand, a business and a way of life’. The Royal Welsh contributes more than £40m to the Welsh economy, with £11m worth of assets at its show ground in Builth Wells, 14 committees across Wales and 20,000 members, Steve highlighted the significant and influential position the society has in Wales.
Steve believes that with this influential position, the society has ‘a responsibility to agriculture and to Wales’. He believes that the Royal Welsh has an opportunity to shape and influence the future of agriculture in Wales through supporting innovative and progressive farming, and sharing the society’s ‘school of knowledge’. He highlighted the society’s continuing work with Nuffield scholars and the Agri Academy, as well as the Tomorrow/Today tradestand for innovation in agriculture as some examples of the work they are currently doing in this area.
The next Breakfast Club will be held on 16th May with guest speaker Jon Horne, Chief Executive of Cardiff International Airport. For further information and booking details, please contact eira@petersenspr.com or phone 02920 549597.
