Episode 12 Landward

Landward at the Royal Highland Show 2013. It's billed as the Greatest

Show on Earth and so over the weekend we have two programmes for

you. You may have noticed that a certain person is missing?.where can

Dougie be? The offer good behaviour. Tonight I will be marking the

magical Midsummer solstice at the Callanish standing stones. Join me

straight after Landward Borough celebration of Scotland's scenery,

wildlife and people on the longest day of the year. But the Midsummer

solstice is still a few hours away and for the next thirty minutes its

all about The Royal Highland Show. Dougie will be back for our

highlights show on Sunday afternoon. To help out in the meantime we've

drafted in Cat Cubie. What are you going to be up to? This is my first

Royal Highland Show so I'll be out around the showground finding out

why the event draws around 175,000 people over the weekend. I'll be

looking at some of the themes of this year's show. The show president

this year comes from the Highland's and islands and they'll be

highlighting the great range of food and leisure activities available in

the region. And I'll be setting Nick Nairn a cooking challenge and

finding out how to take the perfect picture of a winning beast. But

first with so many trophies and so much prize money at stake this

weekend I've been looking at the efforts to ensure all animals abide

by a strict set of showing rules. There are more than 5000 animals

competing here at the Highland show over the next few days. Stop men

like these many here are busy offering their animals, getting them

ready for the big moment in the show ring. -- stalk men. They have to

follow a strict set of rules laid down by this show organisers. I

thought I took a long time to get ready, but that is so much pampering

going on here. How long does it take them to get the animals ready for

the show? There's a lot of feeding and correct diet to get it in the

right condition, then we start preparing the courts. The user here

to stand up. If there is no heard on the back, they are inclined to stick

something else in which is easily spotted. How did people bend the

rules? Be used to stick things to the back with glue. How are the

rules enforced? We use of veterinary inspections after the judging. If

they find anything, they come and report to me. We will then

disqualify that person. Maybe for future shows as well. The animals

shown here represent the best that Scotland has to offer. When he

brings both and prestige. The message to anyone thinking of

cheating is clear, cooking and cleaning is fine but good polish and

tampering with the adders is a definite no. -- boot polish. There

is something going on here all day. We even have soared wielding

warriors. We have a small medieval camp year. We do educational

programmes for children. They can try on costumes and they can hold a

sword. Everything is specially made for children to handle safely.

One of the themes of this year's show is Precision Farming. Over

recent years the industry has gone hi-tech with specialist companies

developing technology to automate a lot of the activities on arable

farms in particular. I went to meet one of the pioneers of Precision

farming? Jim Wilson is not only the technical director of the company

based in Brechin, he's also the local farmer. How did you get into

this? I got into it because when I was combining in the mid-90s, I was

harvesting a field and in some areas there was high yield and 50 yards on

there was no crop at all. It annoyed me that I was spending the same

amount of money growing poor crop as good crop. There are three aspects

to the business, firstly the agronomy side which optimises the

amount of fertilisers and sprays to each bit of the field. We take soil

samples. We upload the results to a web application. The farmer logs on

and creates a map to put the correct amount of lime in each bit of the

field. Then the application map is sent to the spreader and it applies

the correct amount of lime for each area. We fit customers' tractors

with auto steer systems so they can track themselves accurately across

the field. It uses the signals which allows the tractors to do that.

According to Jim, If you are not using Precision Farming technology,

you are simply playing catch up. You're wasting fuel, seed and

fertiliser. The clever thing about this is you can sit back and have a

cup of tea and a bit of cake while the technology does the work.

Now our resident chef, Nick Nairn is always so busy at the Show doing

cooking demonstrations. I decided to set him a quickfire cooking

challenge and yesterday I went shopping in the food hall to find

him some ingredients to work with. Three ingredients. Ingredient number

one. Thank you. Ingredient number two. Thank you. Ingredient number

three. Black pudding. Thank you very much. Everyone on Landward likes a

much. Everyone on Landward likes a wee drink. Thank you. Cheers. Right,

three ingredients sourced from the Highlands and Islands which is the

sheer's region of the show. What can you do? Salmon is a great choice.

This is a beautiful piece of salmon. Black pudding, you are not making

this easy. Take that away with you. Not the easiest combination.

have 20 minutes. I will leave that with you in case you need it.

make some sauce with this raspberry gender. It is a bit early in the

morning for this. We will so take a bit of the sausage as well. We will

pan fry the black pudding. We will put some potatoes on to cook. We

will chargrilled the salmon. Give that a couple of minutes. Then turn

it over. Some spinach as a garnish to go underneath the salmon. You are

culinary genius to think up this extraordinary combination. That is

the cooking done. Time to put together this masterful creation

forcefully enough. We start off with the spinach. Sit that at the centre

of the plate. Then we put the potatoes with the black pudding. On

goes the beautiful salmon. And to finish off, the sources around the

outside of the plate. We have a masterful, culinary creation. I just

need someone to taste it, Sarah. Tell me what you were thinking of

this combination? Fantastic Scottish ingredients from the Highlands and

Islands. That was less than 20 minutes. You surpassed yourself.

Very good. Very, very good. Coming from you, that is a real compliment.

I am was impressed by your talents, when it comes to cooking.

Herewith the sheep that is the beauty parlour. All the livestock

are getting their here and nails done. All to get competition ready.

She gets unwashed, shampoo and set. She gets trimmed down so that

everything is even. Is that the special shampoo? Fairy liquid. I

tried some soap flakes as well. Hands that do dishes and sheep that

do competitions! As well as all the livestock events

and food demo's the Show is a hotbed of political activity. That man

behind me is European Environment Commissioner, Janez Potocnik, He's

here at a critical time for the reform of the Common Agriculture

Policy. Before we meet him I went to find out where we are in the process

and what the Scottish industry would like to see from the CAP which

supports the production of food across the E.U. We're on the cliff

edge, this has been a real marathon. It has been going on for years.

People are sick of it. The deal should be done in the week after the

Royal Highland Show. What do farmers want to get out of its? We want to

get the deal done and get rid of the uncertainty. This is probably

important for new business. And for new entrants. This change should get

them into the system the first time and a level playing field. It is

vital for the next generation. But established businesses, it is about

getting a transition to a tougher world. Given our low-budget, moving

can be painful for businesses. Common Agriculture Policy takes up

around have of the EU budget. With an annual spend 55 billion euros,

farmers and managers are keen to find out what the latest round of

reforms will have in store. We had in the final stage of negotiations.

The good stations are going between the European Parliament and the

the European Parliament and the commission. Use came yesterday from

Brussels. There was an agreement reached from the financing

commission. The door is now open for parts of legislation in specific

areas like the agricultural policy. It has been going on a long time,

how long will it take? We do not have this time. Should finish

negotiations faster. We want to move ahead. It is good we have this

continuous financing in place and 2014 is not so far away. For more

than half a century, the Common Agriculture Policy has supported

European farmers. Its aims are to ensure a fair standard of living for

farmers and sustainable and affordable supply food for

consumers. The latest round of negotiations has been going on for

years so hopefully the powers in Europe can reach an agreement before

the end of this year. Anyone who was at the show last year

will probably never forget the terrible weather. Incessant rain

caused flooding in parts of the showground and led to hundreds of

motorists unable to get out of the car park. Over the last year the

organisers have had to spend a lot of money repairing damage. Stephen

Hutt is Chief Executive of the RHASS. Stephen, how difficult was

the clean-up last year? It was a challenge. You could hardly believe

that looking around today. Some of the ground has still not recovered.

But we have had good dry weather over the last few weeks. What has

been done and how much money has been spent? We have lead to Colombo

tours of dreams. We have spent about half a million. -- to Colombo tours

of dreams. We will continue to invest so that each year will be

better and people can get in and out easily. The long-term plan is to

continue to invest in the showground. The showground accounts

for 50% of our income and that is a rather nerve wracking position to be

in to depend on the weather. We are trying to develop other revenue

streams like a centre of excellence. We want to take

advantage of being next to the international airport. Fortunately,

the weather has been kind to us and fingers crossed it stays that way.

To find out what the prospects are for Ingliston and the rest of the

country this weekend it's over to Let's take a look at the chart for

tomorrow. We will have some fairly sharp showers tomorrow as we had

through the day, and equally in between is there will be some

brighter skies. To start the day, a band of rain across the south-west

which fragments and turns showery. There could well be some thundery

downpours, some hail mixed in with the heavier showers. In the south,

some brighter skies in between but a little cool in comparison with the

week we've just seen. 16 or 17 is the best we can expect. Through the

north, the central highlands, we will see the most of those thundery

downpours. Perhaps in the north-west, some brighter skies. But

fairly cloudy and damp for the Northern Isles. If you're

hillwalking or climbing, the best place to see some sunshine is the

central highlands. Elsewhere, cloudy with rain. The winds across the

whole country will be quite high. The changes direction through the

day. The inshore waters. Over in the east, we have a southerly force

three, swinging round. Into the evening and overnight, this band of

showers work their way south towards the Borders as we had through

overnight. Not a cold night as we head toward Sunday. Temperatures

foremost no lower than ten or 11. So, let's take a look at Sunday. The

low pressure tends to pull away towards the near continent and we

introduce a fresh northerly air and strengthening winds. Still one or

two showers around. It will not be as slow-moving as Saturday and in

the morning we could see some rumbles of thunder and hail mixed

in. Temperatures are about 15. For the Royal Highland Show, unsettled

conditions. Some heavy showers at times and we could see some hail and

rumbles of thunder. What about next week? The low pressure tracks its

way away from us towards Scandinavia and we introduce these pressure

conditions from the north and some windy conditions down the West

Coast. However, in the West, writing up. The cloud concentrated across

eastern parts. Overnight towards Tuesday, we could see a grass frost

in some rural locations. The Tuesday and Wednesday, high pressure builds

keeping things settled and drive. There will be some brightness around

as well however we could see some showers set. Temperatures around 17

or 18. Around the coast, something cooler. A similar story towards the

middle of the week. Generally try and bright with temperatures at

around 18 at best. And that is the There is tight competition here.

What is a winning shoe? It is all to do with a certain size. You've got

to copy the specimen, make your shoe to the exact size. Males have got to

be in properly, level with a nice with beautiful livestock and indeed

beautiful people. Now our very own Euan has a puncture on for blondes

and we have sent along to meet some. Here we are in the north-east of

Scotland. Just around these corner -- this corner, there are some

blondes getting their hair washed. a British blonde. They originated

from France. They came over 43 years ago now. They came from the

south-west of France. Did they change their name? It used to be

Aquitaine. Yes, but they are known as British blonde is because the

supermarkets didn't want the French name associated with the beef. But

we've also modified it somewhat to suit the market in this country.

They are not as tall as they used to be. And they are more beefy than

they were. They tend to have a bit of double muscling. So, a butcher 's

favourite? They are because of the length of the loin across the top.

That is where the expensive cut of meat is. And have you got an entry

in the show? Yes, we do. It's moved north of the border for the first

time which is excellent because it means that we will get a crack at

winning the National Trophy. Who are you taking down? We are taking down

ten. It is their holiday, in journey down to Edinburgh. This show

is in full swing. What do you think of the turnout? The turnout is

tremendous and the quality of the capital here is very good. What do

you think the national show here is going to do for the popularity of

the breed? It is a great exhibition for the breed. People can see what

we can do and we're up there with the Continental breeds. How have you

been doing? We had a first prize in the Junior heifer class. And we've

been out with the second and third class. So, pretty chuffed?Yes.

Thank you. The standard of this pageant is very high but let me

introduce you to the winner. This one is from Ireland. Beautiful.

more than delighted with what she's done for us. Congratulations. Thank

you. All the prize-winning livestock at the show are photographed for the

agricultural press and as a permanent memento for the breeders,

one of Scotland's livestock photographers is working flat out at

the show and a few weeks ago I met up with her in Aberdeenshire.

I've been in photography for ten years. It's been an inspiration from

being brought up on a farm. You always outside working. I get cabin

Fever stuck in an office all day! The main thing about doing livestock

photography is to try to get the confirmation of the breed character

in the cattle. You want to get their legs standing properly, there he is

looking turned around so you know they've got a good breed character.

Do you ever feel intimidated? Sometimes you do but most of the

time, you get used to it and you always know if there is one behind

you that's got a funny look in its eye. Once you've been in a feel for

ten minutes, you generally -- they go off in the indirection. They

don't notice you. You're about have another baby I'm even more impressed

that you are in this field is lying down on all fours taking

photographs. I have three weeks ago. I might be lying in some strange

positions! The Highland show, it is a pretty relentless time for you. It

is probably one of the highlights of the year for me. I've taken on

another girl to work for me. We have to get every single breed champion

for the breed sponsor. And we've got someone else doing the horses as

well. We start work at 8am. And you are working until 10pm, editing

photographs, so that we can put them up straightaway. Now, are you going

to enjoy it? Do you enjoy it? been going to the shows since I was

tiny. You always look forward to it. There is always good banter because

you know everyone. It is early o'clock on the first day of the show

and Catherine is already in the thick of things. I know you're busy

so I'm sorry to interrupting. How are things going? Great! The weather

is on our side. That is a bonus. What is the standard like? It is

excellent from what I've seen sofar. We've just started but this has the

best example of breeds in the world. It's always good. And you are nearly

at your due date. Please tell me you're still not going down. Another

couple of weeks and then I will have a week off before the baby is born.

I hope you get to put your feet up at some point. Good luck and I'll

let you get on. Thank you. One of the most popular attractions

at the show is the forestry area. But with chainsaws blasting all

weekend, it's also one of the noisiest. What are you making?

thing people ask us to. I am doing an owl, he's doing a bear, somebody

else is doing a bench. Is the competition intense? It's not

supposed to be, but it is. We work flat out for four days.

Each year the show president comes from a different region and this

year it's the turn of the Highlands and Islands and the owner of the

Alvie Estate near Aviemore Jamie Williamson. His mission is to

promote the region's wide range of leisure and tourism initiatives.

Before the show, I met up with him in his home.

The Highlands and Islands of Scotland are framed the world over

for their world beauty and landscapes but getting beyond the

picture postcards and making a living in this area is the difficult

bit. I've come to the Alvie Estate to meet this year's show president

who's been in charge of promoting and highlighting the range of

opportunities this area has to offer. What we've got to do is do

what we can do better than anyone else. We've got some of the best

landscapes in Europe or in Britain which attracts tourists. It is great

for renewable energy. We've got the hills, we've got the water. We are

one of the best places in Britain for hydro schemes, wind energy, one

of the best places in Britain for food production in terms of niche

markets of things like shellfish, lamb, Highland beef, etc. You have

diversify tenderly. What are you looking at here? We start off with a

traditional sporting estate but now we've got tourism. We've got more

visitor beds and we've got sheep. Originally, we were looking at

diversifying from the scheme. Things like clay pigeon shooting, archery

fitted in, but we have diversify do with horse riding, quad biking, zip

wires. The zip wire gives you a bit of a thrill, gets people out, the

Canyon in, again, is getting people out of doors. Most of what we are

doing can be done all year round. We can do most of these regardless of

Back at the Royal Highland Show in the countryside area, the president

's initiative is to get kids involved. What is the idea of behind

this? What we're trying to do is promote the Highlands Islands. We've

got one of the best tourism areas in Europe and in Britain. We are trying

to give a smattering of what we can provide. On the climbing wall, we

are showing what climbing, abseiling is. We've seen what you can do on

your estate, but what can the region achieve? I think what we can do is

tell people this is a tremendous pitch tea for tourism, recreation,

food production, and renewable energy. How important is this

initiative for the whole Islands and Highlands region? We need to improve

the economy of the Highlands and Islands, and we need to give every

opportunity and show people the opportunities that we have up here.

This is one of the activities on offer throughout the Highlands and

Islands so after the show, why not get out there and explore it for

That's all we've got time for tonight but you can watch highlights

of the weekend of the show on Sunday at 6:30pm on BBC Scotland. We will

feature some of the most prestigious livestock show in competition

including the Queens cup, showjumping and sheep shearing. We

will be sampling some great food and be charging around the showground

meeting some of the tens of thousands of visitors. If you can't

make it in person, watch Landward on Sunday, but stay tuned because to be