When Cereals moved to Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm in Oxfordshire, farmers on The Farming Forum spent a week predicting gridlocked lanes, mudbaths and a show swamped by celebrity tourists. Then they went. Over four weeks, a conversation that began with ticketing gripes and traffic dread turned into farmers calling the event the best they can remember, while still asking who shows are for and whether anyone attending can afford to buy.
By TFF News | 25 September 2026 | Events
The conversation drew 274 visible contributions between 2 June and 27 June 2026, has been viewed 24,003 times on The Farming Forum, and gathered 658 reactions, an average of 2.4 per contribution. Activity peaked on 10 June, the show’s first day. The figures are not a representative survey of the farming sector.
Doubts before the gates opened
The pre-show mood was wary. Ticketing changed this year, and regulars noticed. “I can’t remember being charged to get in, just had to register.” wrote the contributor who opened the conversation, adding that timed arrival slots and a 2.5 hour drive were enough to put him off. Others were assigned 10am entry slots they never asked for, and one veteran summed up a long relationship with the event: “I will be sticking with my long and well established cereals tradition, by going salmon/sea trout fishing.”
Under the logistics chatter sat a harder commercial point. “What’s the point of going. Can’t afford to do a deal. On anything.” asked one contributor two days before the gates opened, and another replied that machinery stands stopped carrying sold-to trophy signs years ago.
The traffic plan held
The Cotswold lanes were the biggest single fear, with contributors reporting locals photographing low loaders squeezing through Chipping Norton during the build-up. On the day, the queues largely failed to materialise. “Traffic management was very good, they had lots of mobile traffic lights and attendants at every junction miles from the site.” reported one visitor who queued ten minutes just before 11am, though the route chosen mattered: an hour through Chipping Norton against fifteen minutes in via Stow-on-the-Wold. Farmers Weekly’s coverage confirms the pattern: despite pre-event congestion fears, most visitors reported smooth access.
Entry was not faultless. One contributor who travelled from South Wales with two tickets said stewards repeatedly waved his vehicle past the gate until he gave up: “we didn’t get in and went home a bit disappointed really”.
Verdicts from the showground
Once contributors started reporting from the site, the tone swung sharply. “I was a bit sceptical about traffic, soil type etc but it really worked and I have to eat my words.” wrote one, calling it the most enjoyable Cereals in a long time. A first-day visitor noted the show “was very busy wouldn’t be surprised if the attendance record has not been broken which in the current farm economic climate is some going.”
The official figures back the impression. Farmers Guide reported more than 25,000 visitors and over 650 exhibitors across 10 and 11 June. One contributor involved in the build-up and clear-up put the gate at 22,000 on the Wednesday and 7,000 on the wet Thursday; those daily figures are his account rather than a published breakdown.
The crowd’s profile struck several contributors: “Cereals 2026, best I’ve been too great vibe definitely a younger crowd and more relaxed than yrs gone by” was one verdict, paired with a practical ask for wider walkways and more toilets.
The Clarkson question
The venue’s celebrity pull divided the conversation. The doubters saw hype: “Amazing how folk get sucked into so called celebrity culture.” ran one contribution questioning how many visitors could afford the machinery on show. Defenders pushed back, on the event and on the television farmers themselves; of Harry Metcalfe, the farming YouTube presenter several contributors discussed, one wrote “Harry knows the job inside out and costs it as it’s own enterprise , nothing to do with other strings to his Bow !”
What is beyond argument is that the location brought new people through the gate. “never been to Cereals before but son has always wanted to go down to Clarkson s farm so thought why not.” wrote one first-timer before the show, and another first-time visitor left with a changed view of farming events altogether, reporting that “everyone had a smile on their face and was happy to engage” at the kind of event he normally avoids as doom and gloom. That positivity carried the room: positive contributions averaged 5.7 reactions each, against 2.2 for negative and 1.4 for neutral ones.
What the trade can take from it
For exhibitors, the conversation carries a warning inside the celebration. The crowd was huge; the chequebooks were not out. “saw a lot of shiny gear that would be on my wish list but unfortunately the way the cereal job is at the moment they will have to remain as wishes!” wrote a first-time visitor who otherwise loved the day.
The show’s drift beyond pure arable also got attention: drone spraying demonstrations drawing serious interest, egg packers courting arable farmers, and a visible livestock section. One livestock visitor found “The no fence collars definitely look to be worth a trial at home, very interesting.” Not everyone welcomed the broadening: “Slippery slope in my opinion.” warned one contributor, arguing that the biggest arable exhibitors will not fund six-figure stands at what he called a glorified county fair. There was a constructive challenge on catering too, after a farm-based ice cream trader described how hard it was to get a pitch: “Imagine if all the catering on site was from locally produced, British farmed food.”
Where next for Cereals
The venue debate ran on long after the mud dried. Southern and western growers want the favour repeated: “Diddly Squat was perfect for us in the South and West, nice short drive for a change, only 3 1/2hours”. Others argued for rotation: “If anyone is reading form Cereals, how about alternating between east and west. National sheep show is biannual and I think that works well.” The 2027 destination is settled: the event returns to Andrew Ward’s Heath Farm in Lincolnshire on 9 and 10 June 2027. A return to Diddly Squat in 2028 was reported within the conversation as expected, but has not been confirmed by the organisers in the sources checked for this article.
The question the trade is left with
Cereals 2026 proved that a celebrity venue can put a bumper, younger, more mixed crowd in front of exhibitors in the worst arable economy for years, and that farmers will forgive mud and timed tickets for a show with atmosphere. What it did not prove is that any of that turns into orders. “Seemed bigger than previous, well done to all who organised it” was the mood of the room, but the contributor who asked what the point of attending was when nobody can afford a deal never really got an answer. For the businesses that fund the stands, the question hanging over next June in Lincolnshire, without the Clarkson effect at the gate, is which story was the real one: the bumper crowd, or the wish lists that stayed wishes.
Read the source conversation and analysis
Read the full conversation on The Farming Forum here.
Download the full conversation analysis deck: Cereals 26 conversation analysis (PDF).
This conversation had been viewed 25,118 times on The Farming Forum when counted on 1 October 2026. Want your brand in the room when farmers talk events? Book advertising with Agri Web Media.