YOUNG farmers from across Cornwall have been battling it out to find out which Young Farmers’ Club is the best of the best in the county.

On Saturday, August 2, more than 400 members of the Cornwall Federation of Young Farmers’ Clubs (Cornwall YFC) – representing 20 clubs from across the county - battled it out for top honours at its popular County Rally.

An annual event, this year it was organised by Madron and St Buryan clubs in the far west of the county and chaired by Amy Roskilly of Madron YFC. The day featured the traditional mix of cookery, handicraft, and sporting events – all delivered with a large dollop of fun.

The rally - supported by Cornwall YFC sponsors NFU Mutual, the UK’s leading rural insurer - was held at Trezelah Farm, Gulval, near Penzance, and hosted by the Knowles Family of Trink Dairy.

It was attended by agents from the NFU Mutual’s Central Cornwall Agency, Richard Young and Alistair Murdoch.

Richard and Alistair helped with the competition judging, deciding on the winners of the welly throwing and tent erecting competitions. To mark the Farm Safety Federation’s Farm Safety Week, which works to improve attitudes to farm safety and mental health, the throwers used yellow welly boots.

Richard said: “It was great to support the Cornwall YFC County Rally. The sun put its hat on, thankfully, and we had a great day judging. It’s always great to see these events well supported. Well done to all involved in the organising, a great day had by all!”

This year’s Cornwall YFC chair, Sophie Olds, said the rally was the biggest annual gathering of Cornwall Young Farmers and, for many members, the highlight of the year. “Doing well at the annual rally is something that everybody strives for,” she said. “It’s a really fun event.”

Cornwall YFC County Secretary Becky Mellan said the event was very well attended – and included a visit from the Cornwall YFC President Lady St Levan, Mary St Aubyn.

The overall winners, after a hectic day of competition with a total of 135 events, were Camelford YFC.

Among events were a range of cookery classes which encouraged club members to get hands on and creative with some Cornish baking.

The classes included Cornish specialities hevva’ cake and saffron buns. Meanwhile, over in the handicraft section, agricultural themes were the focus getting members to embrace their creative side while still encompassing their rural roots, attendees were even given the opportunity to make their very own farm sign.

Practical challenges ranged from the useful to the bizarre. Clubs created and uploaded online videos for social media to promote the rally and were asked to demonstrate their safe tractor driving skills.

Though for those if that sounded a bit too serious, there were also plenty of fun competitions, including a contest to see how many YFC members could be stacked on a single pallet with the winners, St Buryan YFC, managing the grand total of 18 members.