JUST inside Entrance One of the National Agricultural Centre last week

the attention was grabbed by a wide-ranging display of lightweight

all-terrain vehicles -- or ATVs.

They could be taken as a suitable metaphor for the whole Royal

Agricultural Show.

When they were first introduced they were simple, relatively

inexpensive, three wheelers that could go anywhere, and had low running

costs.

Now they are so sophisticated they almost need a separate advanced

driving test and a degree in electronics -- and inevitably costs have

escalated.

At the same time, they have become the plaything of well-off

urbanites, either for sport, or for use at the weekend rural retreat.

One model on display was hooked up to a trailer carrying a high

performance water-ski boat, as an example of the expensive toys of the

work hard, play hard school.

The Royal Show is becoming polarised along similar lines. At one point

of a triangle is the traditional livestock judging, at another is the

high-tech sophisticated hardware of the agri-food industry, and at the

third is the still uncomfortable cross-over point between rural and

urban interests.

The fact that ATVs have grown an extra wheel as a result of pressure

from the safety lobby -- as few people could remember the instability of

tricycles from their childhood days -- is a further reminder of the

escalating pressures on the rural sector.

The show organisers have equally been under pressure from the health

and safety lobby to improve the standards of safety at the event,

particularly the separation of livestock from visitors.

As this means setting up temporary barriers on the main avenue between

the principal ring and the stock sheds, this can create quite a headache

-- one which is repeated for the smaller rings.

In these days of six and seven-figure legal actions for accidents and

injuries, the safety of the paying customer, as well as the amateur and

professional participants, is paramount, and one which the Royal

Agricultural Society of England take seriously.

It is partly as a result of these demands that a far reaching

reconstruction of the show site is now being implemented. One of the

more visible elements of this will be the relocation of the ever-growing

equine section to the north of the main ring, complete with stabling and

new all-weather rings.

This is timed to coincide with a new equine exhibition next year, but

will also act as a relief valve on the main avenue to the south of the

ring at the Royal.

It will be one of the main focuses of the new triangulated show site,

with the accent on food, farming, and the countryside respectively, as a

result of the multi-million pound investment programme planned by the

show society.

While the overall end product of the industry is the food people eat,

this activity will continue to occupy a lamentably small area round the

food pavilion, although the major multiples such as Marks and Spencer,

Safeway, and Tesco, may have their own views on this, as all three had

stands at some distance from the hall.

Show agricultural director Dr Mike Ducker admitted last week that the

society had had some stick over the quality of exhibit in the pavilion,

and though there was some improvement this year -- largely as a result

of the relocation to other sites of the fast food element -- it still

lagged some way behind its Scottish counterpart at Ingliston.

However, in future it will be linked to the international food

section, and will seek to include cooking and food demonstration

theatres, making it a more worthwhile stopping-off point for visitors.

Farming will occupy the southern and eastern quadrants of the show

site, with separate focuses for livestock, arable, and machinery, and a

separate agri-business sector tagged on to the north-west of the main

ring.

The rest of the site will be given over to the vast and growing range

of other countryside related pursuits. In addition to the equine

section, these will include farm woodlands, conservation and the

environment, housing and jobs, and gardening and horticulture. It will

include a mini farm of about five acres, as well as a Village 2000

concept.

In other words, like the ATV concept, the show is set to become

steadily more complex in response to the multiplicity of interests in

the rural sector.

Inevitably, there will be a hefty price tag, but officials are adamant

that gate prices and stand rentals will not be pushed up as a result.

This suggests confidence in a business ability to sell the site's

facilities on a year round basis. As they say, time will tell.

Certainly, there was no shortage of money apparent at this year's

show, and the ''feel-good'' factor that was evident at the Highland was

equally visible at the Royal.

The one complaint that everyone -- visitor, trade and stock exhibitor,

and media -- voiced this year, was the increasing intrusion of cars,

vans and lorries throughout the show. Not only was this inconvenient to

the thousands who attended, it increasingly carries with it the risk of

accidents.

In their plans for 1995 and beyond, the Society must tackle this

problem with a will.