Students help place British food and farming at heart of the world's oldest civic procession

Posted 21 November 2023

Darcy Johnson at the Lord Mayor's Show 2023 (with thanks to the NFU for use of these pictures)

The oldest civic procession in the world has once again seen the best of British Farming among its parade – with a little help from some Harper Adams students.

The Lord Mayor’s Show, which takes place every November through the streets of London, sees floats from Livery Companies and professions of all kinds, including a float from the Worshipful Company of Farmers marking the impact the profession has on British food and farming.

This year, Darcy Johnson, a third year BSc (Hons) Agri-Food Marketing with Business student from near Westbury in Wiltshire, was among those taking part in the Parade – thanks to her work with the NFU.

She explained: “I’m one of this year’s NFU Student and Young Farmer Ambassadors, and part of this role includes involvement within the Worshipful Company of Farmers float at the Lord Mayor’s Show. 

“This year’s farmers ‘float’ had an 80-metre slot within the procession and included a Case IH 620 Quadtrac and Case IH Farmall, all polished to perfection and kitted up with all of the ‘Back British Farming’ stickers – as you can imagine!

“As well as this, we had representatives from the Worshipful Company of Farmers, Case IH, NFU, Red Tractor and Surrey Docks Farm, accompanying the tractors along the streets.

“It was an absolutely fantastic day. The centre of London was alive with thousands of people, and the show itself included a total of 130 decorated floats from across completely different companies, charities, and groups.”

The Lord Mayor’s Show Procession is broadcast every year on the BBC – with the programme holding the record for the longest-running television broadcast, having been on air since 1937.

However, for Darcy, the real impact of the day was the interactions she had with the crowds on the capital’s streets.

She added: “Our presence on the streets of London was well received by the supporters gathered up to watch the parade. We had cheers and hollers of support from the crowds, and I don’t think any of us have had so many high fives in all our lives!

“You could literally see jaws drop and phones quickly come out when the Quadtrac trundled along past the crowds, so hopefully the #backbritishfarming-covered tractors have done their part in slowly infiltrating around family, friends and social media, boosting the presence of British farming even further. 

“We were out on the streets of central London, not only promoting British Agriculture, but thanking the public for buying British and supporting their British farmers, encouraging them to continue to do so.”