This year’s Balmoral Show is set once again to be a bumper event next week, opening on Wednesday, 10 May and continuing until Saturday, 13 May.

The main cattle judging day is Wednesday with the Beef Shorthorns, Aberdeen Angus, Hereford, Charolais, Irish Moiled, Dexter, Limousin, Blonde and British Blue coming under the spotlight.

Sheep judging on Wednesday will include Zwartbles, Hampshire Down, Texel, Beltex, Charollais, Suffolk, Dorset Horn Minority breeds and Ile de France with further sheep judging on Thursday to include all the other breeds.

Friday will be the main dairy judging day as well as championship titles being decided.

Trade stands

There will be plenty for spectators to see including a wide array of trade stands both indoors and outdoors.

The NI Food & Drink Pavilion returns to the Balmoral Show and this year it is set to wow crowds with over 100 local food and drink companies and three Theatre Kitchens.

Organised by food and drink membership organisation Food NI and supported by the Northern Ireland Regional Food Programme, the NI Food & Drink Pavilion will tantalise your taste buds with delicious and original food and drink on offer, from award-winning gins to mouth-watering cheese. The Pavilion includes a number of new and innovative businesses, with emerging trends in sustainability, health and food tourism.

This year, Food NI welcomes a host of excellent local companies including Glastry Farm Ice Cream, Whites, Linwoods, TAYTO and Thompsons Tea. Karri Kitchen, Natural Umber, Gold and Browne’s, Favourit Foods, Andrews Flour, Carnbrooke Meats and Rhiannon’s Cakes and Bakes are also going to be exhibiting.

New to the Pavilion this May is an exciting NI Drinks Area, to celebrate excellent local producers of beer, cider, gin, whiskey. The Drinks Area will also promote the Discover Northern Ireland Spirits Trail.

Throughout Show days there will be three Theatre Kitchens cooking up a storm. The Tesco Theatre Kitchen will focus on cooking on a budget using local ingredients, the Tourism NI Kitchen will showcase some of Northern Ireland’s top food and drink experiences and new for 2023, The Pavilion will host the Moy Park 80th Anniversary Theatre Kitchen, focusing on exciting, simple family meals highlighting local chicken.

One of the growing areas of the NI Food Pavilion is the engagement of councils with local food and drink.

Food NI’s Chief Executive Michele Shirlow commented, ‘We are very excited about the NI Food & Drink Pavilion this year. We welcome the new Drinks area and a special area that celebrates the produce from our seas and loughs. The Pavilion is a must visit experience to find out what is happening in the world of food and drink and to see our talented food and drink industry show off the latest innovations. We are proud to host the Moy Park 80th Anniversary Theatre Kitchen this year, as well as the Tesco Cookery Theatre and Tourism Kitchen. Dozens of chefs and producers will showcase the very best food and drink from NI over the four days.’’

The 154th Balmoral Show welcomes the support of their four platinum sponsors; ABP, M&S, SPAR and Tesco.

RUAS Business Development Executive Vickie White commented, “We would like to thank our platinum sponsors for their continued support of Northern Ireland’s largest agri-food event. Their sponsorship is pivotal in enabling the Show to continue to grow year on year.”

Showcase

As the Royal Ulster Agricultural Society (RUAS) prepares to open the gates at Balmoral Park for the 154th Balmoral Show, Platinum Sponsor Marks & Spencer is set to showcase its commitment to local agriculture and farming sustainability.

Steve McLean, Head of Agriculture at M&S said: “We are committed to working with our suppliers and farmers to help them identify ways to decarbonise food production whilst enhancing nature and biodiversity. Part of this is through celebrating good practice and so we will host the M&S Select Farm Awards on our show stand on Wednesday 10th May, recognising those who have demonstrated best-in-class practices in terms of innovation, welfare and low impact farming.

“M&S has always led the field in our support for local agriculture and farming sustainability and the Balmoral Show is the perfect platform.”

Northern Ireland is a major supply region for the M&S food business with beef, venison, chicken, potatoes, bread and eggs produced not only for Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland stores, but also for many stores across the UK.

Steve continues: “Over the four days of the show, M&S will showcase our suppliers who bring the very best of regional food to our stores here. We firmly believe that great food comes from great ingredients, produced by the best farmers and growers.

“Our show stand will bring the very best of M&S to life for our customers, farmers and growers and demonstrate our commitment to farming initiatives through a selection of consumer experiences.

“Customers will be able to learn about our free-range eggs and Oakham Gold chicken, as well as meet two Wagyu calves provided by Keith Williamson of Linden Foods, our meat processing partner in Northern Ireland. As the only major retailer who can trace all our beef back to every farm and animal, we will explain our DNA testing process.

Strong long-term relationships are at the heart of how M&S works with farmers, epitomised through its long-established M&S Select Farm programme.

In addition to specific farm standards around the environment and animal health and welfare, the Select Farm programme sees M&S working with farmers to help them address the challenges they face in adopting low-impact farming practices, to ensure food is produced sustainably for the long-term.

Visitors will also be able to see live chef demonstrations as well as sample a selection of the retailer’s delicious products.

Steve continues: “In this our 20th year as Platinum Sponsor, M&S will continue to sponsor a selection of the beef livestock classes. These will take place at the cattle lawns on 10th May and include the Aberdeen Angus, Beef Interbreed Championships, as well as Beef Young Handler classes.

“We will also continue our sponsorship of the Media Centre which will see M&S providing lunch for all journalists attending the show.”