Wildlife artist ROBERT FULLER gives us a preview of an event he is hosting to celebrate the variety of Wolds produce

FARMING has undergone tremendous change over the years. As a farmer’s son myself, I remember going out into the fields during harvest to take my father a picnic lunch.

I remember thinking how busy my father must be not to be able to get back to the farmhouse and how exciting it was to take it out to him instead.

Harvesting would stop and after lunch, if my brother and I were lucky, we would get to have a ride in the tractor or play with the mounds of wheat before work resumed.

Nowadays, the harvesters work in huge machinery designed to work fast and only stop if the weather takes a turn for the worse or they break down. Combines are now computerised and run on auto-pilot to harvest the field most effectively. I’m sure there are very few farmer’s these days who get to enjoy a picnic mid-field with their family.

Looking after cattle has become equally specialised. The cattle at the farm my father manages at Givendale are fed grass-based diets to achieve high growth rates and exceptional eating quality.

And as the pace of farming has changed, so has the farmer. While big farming companies such as JSR Farms which my father works for have had to go high-tech, smaller farms have had to diversify in order to survive.

So nowadays, not only is the modern farmer involved in food production, but also a myriad of other business ventures from growing cut flowers to offering holidays in converted barns.

And with it, new business skills have had to be learnt. My neighbours here in Thixendale, Adam and Jennie Palmer, are a case in point.

They recently added value to their traditional arable and sheep farm by branching into Yorkshire Rapeseed Oil, producing cooking oils made from rape grown on the farm.

Jennie, a fashion and theatre designer by trade, has embraced up-to-the-minute marketing practises such as social networking, Facebook and Twitter to promote her oils.

And in doing so she has developed links between a host of new producers in the area to foster a ‘Yorkshire Wolds’ brand of quality produce.

And what an amazing number of wonderful producers we have got here on the Wolds. From cheese to ice cream, Yorkshire wines and hedgerow liqueurs, there is something tasty to be found lovingly grown here on the Wolds to fill a picnic hamper.

I have been so impressed by the producers that I will be holding a free farmers’ market at my gallery in Thixendale on Saturday, July 13 and inviting people to come and ‘taste the Wolds’ for themselves.

Among the stallholders is farmer’s daughter Jacqueline Broadhead who runs Epicures Larder, producing award-winning cheeses from her small herd of cows which she supplies to five-star restaurants across Yorkshire.

She also sells pork, from pigs fed on the whey from the cheese, and has plans to produce air-dried and cured pork to compete with Spanish and Italian imports.

Justin Staal, of Staal Smokehouse, will be bringing some of his fine smoked fish. A former travel agent, Justin gave up selling tailor-made fishing holidays to set up a cottage industry smoking locally sourced meats, fish and poultry on his wife Georgina’s family farm in Long Riston near Beverley and has a good understanding of how to navigate the market.

Many of the new producers are working together so that their produce offers a true taste of the area.

Jam and chutney producers, Wold Cottage Kitchen in Wetwang, for instance, makes a Real Ale Jelly from beer produced by another Yorkshire producer, Wold Top Brewery, based near Hunmanby.

Others due to show their produce at the event include Ryedale Vineyards, which produces award-winning wines from the most northerly vineyard in England at Westow, and Mr Moos Ice Cream from Skipsea.

There will also be sloe gin and chocolates from Raisthorpe Manor in Thixendale, yummy biscuits from Wold Cookies, choice beef cuts from Manor Farm Beef, near Driffield, and locally-grown bouquets from Fieldhouse Flowers in Everingham.

•Taste the best of the Yorkshire Wolds at this unique farmer’s market, 10am-4.30pm on Saturday, July 13 at The Robert Fuller Gallery, Fotherdale Farm, Thixendale, YO17 9LS.

•The lovely garden at Manor Farm, Thixendale, is open under the National Garden Scheme on the day of the farmers’ market, July 13