College Challenge The Farmers' Country Showdown

Across the country,

thousands of farming families work tirelessly around the clock.

Stop arguing, girls!

Give over.

But there's one day each year

where they get to leave the daily routine behind.

Right, here we come, Dorset.

These are show days...

A very, very warm welcome to Melplash Show.

..when they come together as a community...

..to showcase the fruits of their labour...

I just love showing my girls off.

..and try to win prizes for their breed champions...

Smashed it.

..and award-winning produce.

That's really nice cheese, that.

It was very good, darling.

There will be highs...

That's what I want to see. Red.

Red is the best.

..and lows...

She's not happy enough to go.

..for the dedicated farmers who give everything to walk away a champion.

Fingers crossed!

The future of British farming lies with the next generation.

Last year, around 19,000 students studied agriculture

at colleges and universities across the UK.

..the production in England.

Budding young farmers Luke Barnwell and twin sister Alice from Daventry,

and Iwan Parry from north Wales are learning the tricks of the trade.

With the lifelong dream of one day taking over the family farm.

To show they are the future of British farming,

they will be competing at this year's National College Challenge

competition to find the best student farmer.

Young people, who are the future of our industry,

for this great competition here today.

APPLAUSE

The beautiful Northamptonshire countryside

is home to 17-year-old agriculture students

Alice and her twin brother, Luke.

They've grown up in the family farm in Daventry.

Rural life is in their blood.

I couldn't imagine living anywhere else or doing anything else.

-Alice, there's a lamb there.

-Always one.

I would like to be a farmer because I enjoy handling the animals,

especially the sheep.

We own about 150 acres and we rent about 160, and at the moment,

we've got around 200 cattle and 250 sheep.

Dad, Charlie, has taught them everything they know.

And whilst he manages the cattle stock,

it's the job of the twins to shepherd the sheep,

starting with a headcount.

-How many... How many's that?

-50.

79 up here, isn't there?

No, 75.

Oh, right. How many did you get?

23.

Start again!

-This always happens, we end up, like, miscounting between us.

-Yeah.

We're really proud of our children.

We've got three children.

Our eldest daughter is wanting to stay in agriculture, as well.

And Luke and Alice are 17 months younger

and they all want to carry on with the farming tradition.

My grandfather bought the farm in 1947.

He was succeeded by my father and then myself.

It's been built up over four generations now.

Well, going into the fourth generation.

I think it's hugely important to keep it going.

Yeah, we can't be pressurising the children to go into it

if it's not what they want.

They've got to want to do it because you have to live farming,

you can't do it as a job.

Even though the twins are united in their love of farming,

they have a very different approach

when it comes to working on the farm.

You've got a very practical side to the farming, haven't you?

I'm quite theory sided to it.

I like to think of what's going to go well, what's not going to go well.

-Yeah.

-And you like to just get straight into the work, don't you?

Get the job done, yeah.

And for the most part, this practical, theoretical division

of labour seems to work well.

I'm not so brilliant on the tractors.

I wish I was, but you're better on the tractor.

You've got the driving licence.

So you can go off in the summer and pick up the bales.

If we're doing sheep work, me and Luke will tend to do it together,

-won't we?

-Yeah.

A lot of arguing.

-Rivalry.

-That's when you're pushing up and I'm spraying them,

or something. Doing the tiny...

Always a little bickering every now and then.

-Always.

-Always, yeah.

Even though they're twins,

they both have completely different personalities.

They both have different strengths and you can't really compare them

because it's lovely to see them grow and develop in different ways.

And these different ways can also be seen

as they lobby for the affections of sheepdog Jill.

Jill! Jill! Come here.

-Come on, Jill.

-Jill!

Luke! Don't call her away from me!

Come on then. Jill.

The twins may have spent a life learning to work this farm

under their parents' guidance, but like many of their generation,

they want to discover new and different ways of doing things.

So three days a week,

they attend Moulton College where they are studying for a level three

extended diploma in agriculture.

Guys, I'm going to give you some laptops.

Dad might know all of the kind of like old...

old tricks of the trade, I suppose, but if we go to college,

they are up-to-date with everything and know what's going on

right now in farming.

College will help us because it gives us more knowledge

of what to do. It gives us more practical skills.

And we can bring these back to the farm and hopefully make this place even better.

Guys, today's lesson, we are going to look at lamb selection,

handling and grading.

Budding farmers like Luke and Alice are flocking to study agriculture.

There are over 30 colleges across the country

offering new ways to understand and improve the world they grew up in.

We want them to be resilient.

The market is changing, very volatile.

We also equip them with some new technology skills

because innovation is an important area going forward.

They need to stay competitive in the global environment.

How many lambs to you think, guys, are produced in the UK?

-Harry.

-I was just going to say about three million.

About three million. Actually, the UK lamb market

produces about 17 million lambs.

The other thing we do is...

because a lot of students come blinkered,

"We are all sheep farmers," or "We are just beef or dairy."

And what we try and say is,

"You need to look at other enterprises because you don't know

"what the future's going to be."

Despite this, Luke and Alice have stayed true to their farm,

specialising in cattle and sheep.

Now in their final year, they have lots of new ideas

bubbling out of them

and they're keen to try them out.

They're always trying to tell me how I should be doing it, yeah.

I'm willing to listen.

Whether he'll implement it is another matter.

Is another matter, yeah.

And unlike some agricultural students,

these two have the luxury of having a whole farm

to practise their skills on.

So we're about to worm them.

Just to make sure that they're all up to date, ready.

They need to learn different ways of doing things,

see what other alternatives there are.

So what you want to do is try and go from the side of the mouth.

There you go, that's swallowed it.

Just hold it until it's swallowed it.

Just on the head, it's easier.

160 miles away in north Wales,

someone else who's grown up on his family farm

is agriculture student 18-year-old Iwan.

He's also keen to learn the ropes and carry on the farming tradition.

Yeah, growing up on the farm's brilliant, really.

Plus following Dad's footprints. Yeah, cos you know, I've been watching him.

Cos he loves what he does sort of thing and I think,

"Oh, I quite like that." Because he always emphasises to me, you know,

you could be your own boss, you can please yourself.

And being a fifth-generation farmer,

he owes much of what he knows to his mum and dad.

We have nearly 200 cattle altogether.

We do dairy, we rear all our own calves,

we also buy in some calves to rear, as well.

This is a job that me and Dad do together.

So one of us will catch a calf and the other one will actually do

the dose itself. So hopefully they'll behave.

And from a youngster, Iwan's been at his dad's side,

helping with the calves,

even when it comes to handing out the medicine.

I started farming on a small farm and then obviously we moved here,

bought this farm and then obviously expanded the dairy herd,

began to rear our own calves.

While most parents complain their kids are stuck indoors

on the computer, Iwan's playground was the farm,

and along the way, they've been proud of his farming achievements.

Yeah, I think as soon as he could walk, really,

he was down the farmyard, wasn't he?

He always had an interest from a very young age.

And he used to just like to dabble.

Oh, this was...Jimmy.

-Jimmy.

-Yeah, your first ever pet lamb.

Used to go round the shows with him, didn't I?

Well, how old were you there then?

Were you about two and a half? Three?

September 2000, so I would have been two and a half.

When Jimmy disappeared, you said he went to land elsewhere.

Well... Yeah. Yeah, well we had to say something.

Unfortunately, we didn't want to actually tell you what eventually

happened to him because he was a ram lamb.

I believed you for years. Every time it came up, I was always saying,

"Can we go look for him?"

Yeah, we had to say it's gone to your grandparent's land.

I think a farm's a wonderful place to grow up on because...

it's then you're taking things in at that age.

It's probably one of the best apprenticeships going, I would imagine.

Ah, your first hens!

These are my first chickens.

-Yes.

-You started off with three and then eventually had 30 hens

and you were quite keen with your chickens because you used to have

-a little egg round around the village, do you remember?

-Yeah!

Like the twins, Iwan's learned on the job.

But he also wants to spread his wings and gain experience

beyond the gates of the farm.

I learn a lot at home.

But I'm thinking obviously because farming's evolving, you know,

all the modern things, and obviously we're just an ordinary farm here.

So I was thinking if I go to college, you know,

you hear different stories of other people's farms and think, "Oh, I can use that on my farm."

Four days a week, Iwan lives away,

just across the Welsh border at Reaseheath College in Nantwich

where he is also studying for a diploma in agriculture,

and lessons range from farm machinery,

sheep and beef production to planning crops.

We do a practical session, as well, once a week.

So that could be either going into a farm, you know,

seeing another person's system, think, "Oh, learn from that."

Yes.

As farming evolves, you need to evolve as well.

I think that's what college does.

Yeah, look at the back, you can see it's got a dip, can't you?

We quite like to hear what he's learned that week.

You know, can it be beneficial to us with the business?

But with the overexuberance of youth,

Iwan can sometimes get a little carried away.

Obviously, there are some ideas that Iwan does have,

that we have to put the brakes on.

I think he'd like to buy a complete new fleet of machinery for the farm,

and obviously we do have to reel him in sometimes.

Back in Northamptonshire, Luke and Alice also want to see the farm evolve.

And some precious home video of the farm from the 1960s

is a reminder of just how times have changed.

Since then, the farm's seen more modernisation and automation

than grandparents Robert and Cecilia would ever have dreamt possible.

Oh, here's your grandma and grandad.

That would have taken forever!

It's nice to see how much has changed, as well, over the years.

From being a small dairy farm to being a reasonably large stock farm.

Oh, it's great. It's all traditional farming techniques, isn't it?

A real step back in time, isn't it?

It's nice to see how they did things back then, but you think,

oh, gosh, how much hard work that would have been in manual labour

and how long it would have taken them, as well.

To be able to carry on the work that previous generations

have worked so hard to build it up to this stage,

it's really nice to know that we can carry it on.

It's very important to take over the family farm.

As I'm the fourth generation,

there's a little bit of pressure on me to make sure it does well.

Over in Wales,

even though Dad Clwyd isn't ready to hang up his farmer's boots yet,

Iwan also hopes one day to carry on his parents' family farm.

I will probably take over this farm eventually.

As long as I keep on my mum and dad's good side, yeah.

But to be fair, I'm quite lucky I work quite well with Dad.

You know, we get along quite well, we have a bit of banter and everything.

And Iwan has big dreams for the future.

I'd like to build, open, you know expand the business,

once I finish college. Hopefully, bring whatever knowledge

I've learnt there home to expand and improve the business

and possibly have more sheep here.

Whether Dad likes it or not, so...

I don't know, we'll see.

And there seems to be a bit of a difference of opinion

when it comes to sheep.

-You don't like the sheep really, do you?

-I'm not too keen on the sheep.

Although Dad may be a dairy farmer by trade,

Iwan's already persuaded him to keep a small flock on the farm.

I was brought up on a dairy farm.

I quite like milking and being in the parlour.

I'm not as much into milking.

I do milking here, but I just find it a bit repetitive, really.

So that's why I prefer the sheep.

But Dad has his own way of ensuring Iwan keeps his hand in rearing cows.

Oh, she's called Donna. And, yeah, it was probably...

Yeah, it was the first, like, calf who was given to me

as a Christmas present, basically. I think this was Dad's way

of maybe trying to introduce me to the cattle,

rather than trying to get me away from the sheep.

Because obviously he doesn't like them. But, no, no.

I do like cows, to be fair.

But whether it's keeping sheep or cows,

Iwan doesn't want to put all his eggs in one basket

and plans to diversify to keep his options open.

Because he knows what it's like to see a family business

go through tough times.

His mum, Hath, remembers all too well.

When farming takes a downturn as we've seen with the dairy industry,

that's hard to stomach then,

but it's just a case of riding it through and coming out

of the other end and hoping for better times.

Dairy industry's going up. Beef and sheep industry's also the same.

So I'm thinking if you've got beef and sheep, and even maybe dairy,

if one's down, well, the others might be up,

so it kind of balances it out,

so yeah, it's definitely worth having a bit of everything, really.

These students know what they want for their future

and getting an education plays a big part in that.

The one event that can give them the edge is the prestigious

East of England Smithfield College Challenge.

Doing well here will boost their reputation.

The big event is only days away.

They will be tested on their ability to judge livestock.

If they're going to stand out against the hundreds

of other students competing, they need to start cramming.

We're just about a week off the competition, all right.

So, it's time to fine-tune those details,

look at the overview of stock judging.

For Iwan, it's going to be all about judging breeding ewes.

It's the skill of identifying what's ready for the marketplace,

or if they were breeding animals, which ones you would buy.

And Iwan is expected to know the animals inside out.

Legs, they want to be strong, well placed.

They want to be even...

The competition itself is a cross-college competition,

and competition between colleges.

We're all in it for the same thing, which is educating students,

but there's no doubt there is competition,

and we are all singing from the same hymn sheet.

We want all these students to do well.

Competition fever is soaring in Northamptonshire,

as tutor Ed is putting his students through their final paces.

They have to know those sheep.

Confidence is the key and communicate your message clearly

so that the judge knows that you know what you're talking about.

We have been in this competition for the last two or three years now,

so we have a bit of experience.

Last year we came number six, which was really good.

Look at my hands.

Guys, are you seeing? Look at my hands, rocking

on the loin there. I can feel the bones.

The spine is closest to the back bones.

OK? This lamb is not well fleshed, OK.

Look. Jump in.

Twin Luke's got to prove to his teacher that he knows what he's looking for.

-Right down the back, yeah.

-Very bony, yeah.

Following Ed's example,

Luke is checking for fat and muscle on the sheep's body.

-Very easy to feel.

-Yep, absolutely.

This is a very thin lamb.

This lamb is not ready at all.

OK? It needs more time.

Maybe a few weeks for it to be ready.

Luke's done well in his assessment,

but this is a skill which is also essential for him back on the farm.

Knowing how to stock judge a ewe,

it would help us on the farm because we can then identify

what is good and bad in the ewe,

then we can hopefully sort out the problems if there are any,

and then get better stock.

But it's still all about the competition.

I want to win a lot. It would be very good.

But Moulton College has a plan to increase their winning chances.

They're going to place Luke and Alice

in their opposing A and B teams,

hoping it will bring out their competitive sides.

When we had those two twins and we thought that would bring

the best out of them by putting them into two different teams.

Yeah, there is a bit of rivalry but in a friendly way.

What can you say about those three carcasses, Alice?

However, Alice won't be judging live animals,

she's going to be judging the carcasses.

We'll follow those lambs until they're slaughtered

and then we'll show her the grades and the carcasses,

and hopefully that will be able to guide her during the competition.

He has a good amount of fat and a good amount of meat.

Absolutely.

I've never done carcass judging before,

so it will be nice to see how I get on.

Back at Reaseheath, there's no time to slack off.

Iwan's tutor James is cracking the whip

as the competition draws nearer.

Now what I want is team A to select the five best

and the five poorest, but do not tell team B which pen is which

and then team B are going to come in and judge the two pens

and I hope that you pick the five best!

Iwan is part of team A.

They have only a short time to divide the lambs

into the strongest and weakest groups.

Pressure is on here

and Iwan is determined to show his tutor he can do well,

especially as his college won the title last year.

Yeah, she's not too bad, is she?

Quite square, isn't she?

Winning would be great, really.

I'm fairly confident.

I've got a fair idea of what I should be looking for,

so hopefully be ready for the day.

Iwan may be confident but the clock is ticking and the students

haven't decided which lambs are strong and which are weak.

It's relative, whatever traits...

So if they've got a weakness.

They are quite similar, really.

So we've had a bit of difference of opinion.

It's going to be at a national level, so you're going

to basically have similarities, it's going to have to be hard!

Guys, the B team have decided.

Which pen have you gone through as the better five?

Are they in agreement with you?

Yeah?

Even though there was some indecision at first,

Iwan's team have done a good job,

managing to divide the weak sheep from the strong.

All three of our young students have put in the hours

in the classroom and out in the field.

Now there's less than 24 hours to go until they get their chance

to put their judging skills to the test.

I think quietly confident after the stock judging

we've done at college, that they can go on and hopefully win.

We are going to compete to the best of our ability, and hopefully,

fingers crossed, we will probably come out tops.

The East of England Smithfield Festival

is where livestock farmers come from far and wide

to show off their prized animals.

It's also home to the prestigious Annual College Challenge.

And today 30 teams from 15 different colleges

will compete against each other

to show they are the best hope for the future.

And as the morning stirs,

Reaseheath College are one of the first to arrive.

Tutor James has a last bit of advice to motivate the students.

Right, guys, go in there, do the best you can, all right?

First and second, yeah, I'll be made up.

29th and 30th, I'll still be happy.

You're walking home!

Go and have a look around and get a feel for it.

It's not long before the twins' college bus arrives

and lecturer Ed also wants to give his students a final pep talk.

If we win,

we win. If we don't, we don't win, OK.

It's for the experience. So, guys, no pressure.

Alice, how ready are you?

I'm ready, yeah!

-Fantastic. Luke?

-Yeah, I'm ready.

-I'm ready.

-OK.

-OK. Keiron?

-Ready for breakfast!

-Ready for breakfast!

The students are in high spirits and Ed is feeling positive too.

We are all excited.

We are ready. I've told the students

this is for them.

If they win, that's a bonus for us

but the challenge is the experience that they are gaining today.

Luke, on the other hand, is feeling a little less confident.

I'm fairly prepared, well, hopefully.

Yeah, everyone else has been practising in lessons,

it should be all right.

The festival has only recently opened its doors

to young students trying to make it in the farming industry.

The College Challenge, that started six years ago

with about 20 entries.

This year we've got 30 teams competing from different colleges

around the country and they all want to compete and show their skills

in livestock. That's the spirit that we're trying to take forward

to the next generation.

Welcome to the festival.

This was started a few years ago...

And before the competition begins,

the festival director has a few opening words

to give to the students.

We were overwhelmed this year, we didn't expect 30 teams.

We were hoping for 16 but we got 30.

So that's brilliant.

So you have ten minutes to do your judging, to assess the animals,

to decide on your placings and to make some notes.

There are more entrants each year.

The quality and the standard of their reasoning ability,

their judging ability's improving,

but also the competition's becoming more widely known

and it's becoming a must-attend event for many of the colleges

and I take a lot of pride in that.

It's 10am, and it's time for the competition to begin.

Their challenge is to show they can judge livestock.

Twin Luke is up first to judge the breeding ewes.

He's only got ten minutes to stand in the pen

and physically examine the four sheep, ranking them

in order of strongest to weakest.

And he's got to try to remember everything

he's learned in the classroom.

And time goes quickly when there's a lot to look for.

Time's up!

Oi! I've called time, you need to stop looking.

Luke may have got a bit carried away with his time keeping

but he's quietly confident.

I think it went all right.

I've managed to check them over quite well

and identify what's good and bad.

It was quite close between the top two

but the last two were quite easy to tell apart.

Now he's ordered the four sheep from best to worst,

Luke has the daunting task of delivering his results to the judge,

and the time keeper is there to make sure

he doesn't go over his two minutes.

So I want to be looking for someone that's put the same marks as me,

the same animal first, but also the reasons involved.

So, if they've not agreed with me, I want to know why.

My name is Luke Barnwell, I'm 17,

I'm representing Moulton College today.

I've been stock judging the breeding ewes

and I would like to place them in the order of X, B, A, Y.

Although Luke is self-assured when it comes to putting the sheep

in order of merit, he has a more difficult time explaining why

to the judge.

It walked very...

..well.

I checked his teeth.

All A teeth were there and they were very broad and in good condition

and the overall condition of the ewe was very good.

The coat was very even and compact.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-Good.

It can be nerve-racking for anyone to present to a top industry

professional, let alone when you're only 17 years old.

It didn't go as well, as well as what I was expecting it to go.

I stuttered a lot of the words

and I think the nerves got the better of me.

Iwan is up next,

representing Reaseheath College in the same breeding ewes category.

I'm feeling fairly prepared today, I'm quite competitive,

so hopefully I'll do my best for my college, for myself and for the team, really.

But he's got an added pressure to deal with.

The fact that we won it last year,

and I suppose we're defending champions.

There's only one way you can go from being defending champions,

unfortunately, is either retain it

or you're not going to be defending champions!

It does put some pressure on the guys.

Iwan now has his ten minutes to rank the four breeding ewes

from best to worst.

I start off with the mouth

and then make sure that all the teeth are present.

From then, I look at general character.

If she's sharp and bright and bold, you know, she's quite healthy.

Time's up!

It just flew. I would have loved more time in there.

Obviously with the first pair, my first and second place,

they were so similar. I'd have liked more time to get into

the nitty-gritty, but you have to go with the rules.

With the first part over,

it's time for Iwan to present his findings to the judges.

I placed X first as she was superior in her class here today.

She was bright and sharper in character.

And he's got to do his best to convince them of his choices.

B had a superior overall body condition

compared to my third placed A.

I placed Y fourth in her class today, lacking in flesh,

which is going to be a concern when she comes to rearing lambs.

Master judge and madam time keeper,

these are my reasons for placing this pen, X, B, A, Y.

Thank you very much.

Iwan won't know about how he's fared yet

but he's feeling good about his chances.

Fairly happy with my order, and then I did the speech itself.

I was quite happy how that went.

I think I'm quite happy, hopefully it's gone quite well

and done well for the college.

The East of England Smithfield Festival

attracts thousands of farmers and breeders from across the UK.

But it's a modern day incarnation of a 200-year-old event.

In 1789, a group of cattle and sheep farmers met to form

the Royal Smithfield Club

at the site of London's Smithfield meat market.

The tradition is it's still about the livestock farmer

coming together to compete with their very best animals

to show just how good British farming is.

The annual event continued until it took up residence

in London's Earl's Court Exhibition Centre in 1949.

In London, we were taking 650 animals into

an indoors exhibition centre

which was used for every type of exhibition.

And there we were with all of these animals

with all the inherent problems,

like the various waste materials

that have to be gotten cleared away afterwards.

It left a certain aroma in Earls Court.

Here we're in the countryside, life is a little easier!

The show also has a long history with the Royal Family.

The connections we have go way back with royalty.

A lot of the cups that you'll have seen are related to

earlier members of the Royal Family going back to the late 1800s,

early 1900s donating to the show.

The most special guest we have ever had is hosting the Queen Mother.

She always came to the show. She insisted she was there.

She'd come in in the morning, she'd walk around all the stands

and she would then spend time in the ring watching the animals.

She'd present prizes.

She competed as well.

She'd always have Aberdeen Angus cattle down, competing,

though she never won, sadly.

Back at the competition,

there's another challenge for the colleges to face.

If they can correctly identify ten parts of animal feed,

they could win themselves an extra 50 points.

-Barley.

-Wheat, number six.

Barley, two.

Students normally only see animal feed in its mixed form

but today they have to ID the individual ingredients.

It's to test their knowledge of what nutrition their livestock will need.

Maize... Maize?

Yeah. Biscuit meal...

Is that biscuit meal?

This is linseed, isn't it?

That's linseed. Wheat protein.

How about a soya?

IDing the animal feeds isn't just for fun, though.

There's some serious points to be won.

It could be made or break for the winning college team

and tutor James from Reaseheath College is keen they get it right.

Last year, we were the only team

that identified all the samples correctly.

So hopefully they can follow that on.

It's important, it's where we can pick up points.

Smell number ten, that's quite a nice one.

This is going to be challenging for you guys.

Don't be afraid to taste them.

That biscuit doesn't taste good.

What do cows see in that?

So put for rapeseed, substitute for soya.

And Iwan's team have done all they can to get top scores.

As a team, we've all got different knowledge,

so hopefully we'll get the right answers and do quite well.

The competition is in full swing and the spotlight's now on twin Alice.

She's been called up for her category, animal carcasses.

I'm feeing quite nervous, actually.

I've never done it before.

Alice will have to judge four lamb carcasses, prepared for market.

Like the boys, she's expected to rank them in order of quality.

I want the competitors to place their decisions

and base their assessments on what...

an ideal animal for modern day trends in consumer demand.

Today's consumer is looking for a quality piece of meat

that doesn't have too much fat.

I see the finished product, which is the carcass,

which is what the butcher will use to put into joints

before the consumer eats the meat.

It's really tricky cos some of them are shorter

and they've got a lot more meat on them.

But there was others that were really long

but were really fatty and they don't want a massive lamb

that's covered in fat.

They want one that's got a lot of meat on,

with a little bit of fat on.

But all too soon, it's Alice's turn

to face the judge and time keeper.

Good afternoon, master judge.

Today I was judging the carcasses.

There was quite a big difference with B.

It was the longest carcass there but it had a lot of fat on it.

With only two minutes to impress him with her analysis, time is ticking.

And in last place I put X.

This was the smallest carcass that was there.

It didn't have any fullness on the border legs.

So they were my reasons.

The judge is noncommittal

but does have some final words of advice.

There's 15 marks for comparative, rather than a descriptive statement,

so if you can say that lamb A was broader in the loin,

longer in the back,

fuller fleshed and wider and better developed over the shoulders,

that's the sort of comparison that I'm looking for.

Thank you, cheers.

But Alice isn't feeling too hopeful about her performance.

I don't know. I don't think I've done amazingly.

-Don't worry. Fingers crossed.

-I tried!

We'll see how it comes out. It's just one hour to go now.

It's a long wait, though, another long wait!

The competition has come to an end.

There's no more the students can do.

Hopeful that it went well.

Fingers crossed, really.

I don't know how well I'll do.

I'm not expecting to do amazing because it's the first time,

but it would be brilliant to win.

While the judges add up the final points,

there's a chance for the students to enjoy the buzz of the festival,

and the tutors even have a moment to swap notes.

Very close. I don't think there will be many points between the top four

and five. I've said to the guys, we've got 30 teams here today,

if you get in the top ten, it's an achievement.

If you get in the top five, brilliant.

Win it, fantastic.

Though they are competitors,

they share the goal of wanting the best for their young students.

What about in future, students,

our colleges visiting each other?

Students love competing against other colleges

and we're all in the same boat.

No-one college is better than the other.

We're all educating the future farmers

and they love the competition.

-So, yeah. Yeah.

-Yeah.

After months of working hard, swatting up on their colleges,

and taking what they've learned and practising at home on the farm...

..the results of the East of England

Smithfield Festival College Challenge are in.

I am really nervous.

There's a lot of pride to be had today.

I want Reaseheath College to win again.

Feeling quite nervous now.

Yeah, the pressure's on a bit to see how we've done.

The efforts of these young farmers are about to be acknowledged.

Young people, who are the future of our industry,

and for this great competition here today,

I have been absolutely blown away by how polite,

well-mannered and the way you've conducted yourselves today

so I think it's a credit to yourselves and your lecturers

and the colleges you represent in the way you've gone about your business.

APPLAUSE

Prizes will be given to the top five college teams.

In fifth place...

step forward, Moulton College A.

Abbey Howard, Kieran Letherland, Fred Knight, Alice Barnwell.

And Alice's team have come fifth,

one up from last year,

much to the delight of their tutor.

Some very good individual scores.

I'm really, really happy.

Excited, actually, for coming fifth.

I'm really happy. I never expected to get in the top ten,

never mind the top five.

Unfortunately, Reaseheath didn't retain their title this year

but they still came an impressive sixth out of 30.

After the main college prizes have been awarded,

there is a flurry of excitement

as the students' individual scorecards are given out.

Well done, mate.

-What did you get?

-81.

I wasn't that far off, was I?

22, 49... Yeah.

Even though his college didn't finish in the top five,

Iwan is personally delighted with his score of 81 out of 100.

Quite happy, though. It was an international competition,

so it was going to be a tough competition.

So it's high standards here.

So I'm quite chuffed with that, so, yeah, happy.

I did a lot better than I thought.

I'm pretty chuffed, yeah.

17 out of 25, but, so it's not...

It's all right.

Luke might not be as happy with his scores

but the sibling rivalry will continue.

I'll definitely try to beat her next year.

I've got to up my game again, then.

Competitions like this have a vital role to play

in developing young people into the agriculture industry.

I'm totally convinced that the future of farming will be

much more dynamic, will be much more technology and innovation-based

and we need some really good, bright,

well-educated young people in to come and drive the industry forward.

All three of our students have proved that a love of farming,

a willingness to learn new skills

and a lot of hard work will see them go far.

They've worked hard for what they've achieved.

They've done very well and worked hard to achieve it.

He is a natural.

I have to give him that!

We have to put our hands up, yes, we're a little bit proud.

Yes, we are proud of him, really.