Balmoral Show 2026: 'A traditional family day out - and a chance for farmers to catch up'
The Balmoral Show is a traditional event for families going back generations - and a chance for hard working farmers to catch up with neighbours they haven't seen all year, the UFU President says.
Speaking to the News Letter on the first day of the 2026 Balmoral Show, Ulster Farmers Union President John McLenaghan said it is "the highlight to the year" for many farmers.
It gives farmers who have come through the winter and who have a lot of Spring work underway or completed a chance to catch up, he said.
"Balmoral really gives that opportunity just to get out and very often to meet your neighbours again," he said.
"Because sometimes you don't get a chance to meet them because everyone is so busy back at home on the farm."
"And it is a family day - that is what is really good about it.
"You will see people here with babies. I first came here 50 years ago with my parents in a pram and my grandson will be here on Friday for the first time at four months old.
"So it is very much a family event and that is one of the great things that we love about the show."
Mr McLenaghan also noted that while they will want to put it to the back of their mind at the show, there are mounting financial pressures on farmers, in particular due to the US-Iran war.
"Yeah, we have input pressures in terms of the cost of producing the food to the highest standards of anywhere in the world,” he said.
"But that does come at a cost and some of those costs we have seen increasing recently because of other geopolitical events around the world.
"So that is things like the fuel and the fertiliser that will undoubtedly have an effect in terms of pushing up the price of food.
This especially puts pressure on farmers if it coincides with a drop in farm gate prices that farmers are currently seeing, he said.
"We are very concerned about [this] with the price of milk and the price of beef and pork all falling at the minute. That is a real concern for us."