THE YOUNG Farmers Festival due to take place during the first weekend in May has been postponed until 2020 – Farmers Weekly has announced their disappointment at having to pull the festival and are offering full refunds to any individuals who have already purchased tickets.

The magazine ambitiously set about organising a festival following a surge of support for the idea when it first was announced this January. Unfortunately they became aware in the last few weeks that they had not set themselves enough time to work with Young Farmers and the industry and have stated their ‘difficult decision to postpone until next year’.

A spokesperson for the paper commented: “Based on the overwhelming response in January when we first announced the possibility of running a unique new festival for young farmers, we set out to deliver an action-packed event. We moved quickly after the survey that was completed by over 800 young farmers to create a programme from all the fantastic ideas we received.

“We are still passionate about delivering a festival that brings young farmers together from across the country to celebrate their amazing contribution to UK farming,” she continued. “However, over recent weeks it has become apparent that we hadn’t left enough time to work with young farmers and the industry as much as we would have liked and have made the difficult decision to postpone until next year. Everyone who has already bought a ticket will get a full refund,” she concluded.

Farmers Weekly has stated that they will work closely with farmers clubs to launch the 2020 festival in the coming weeks.