SKIPTON Auction Mart - the hub of the farming community in Craven and the Dales - features in a film brought out for this weekend's Tour de France Grand Depart.

With the farming community right in the thick of the tour the National Farmers Union has produced a film looking at the lives of several farmers along the route including from Buckden, Long Preston and Skipton.

And in the same week it launched the film, above, it also showed off its two high-tech tractors, which fitted with wifi will be helpfully located along the route - enabling sight seers to post pictures, tweet, and make calls instantly.

Featured in the film are eight farmers spanning three generations and producing some of the region's best loved food specialities.

Filmed all in one day, it starts in Askrigg at 5am with dairy farmer, 62 year old Bruce Bell, who with his twin brother, Stephen, has every day for the last 52 years produced milk for Wensleydale Cheese.

From there, the film covers the 243 mile route over the course of the next 19 hours, finishing with arable farmer, David Throup as he prepares for harvest in the Vale of York.

But along the way, it visits farms in Buckden, Skipton and Long Preston.

In Buckden, sheep farmer, Garry Schofield, is shown on the National Trust farm where he lives with his family. The family are real livestock enthusiasts with their 800 acre farm which is home to both a sizeable flock of Swaledale breeding sheep and cattle.

With the whole farm involved with the Higher Lev el environmental stewardship scheme, Garry manages 10 acres of wildflower meadows and 23 miles of dry stone walls.

The family also runs a small campsite, which it will be hoping will be full for the Tour.

Skipton pedigree Aberdeen Angus producer, Alistair Lawn, is shown in the throes of calving. Alistair, who farms 500 acres just outside Skipton, has 80 breeding Aberdeen Angus cattle and 500 Swaledale sheep. He rears all his own calves, which as a native breed are very well suited to grassland farming, because they are both hardy and able to produce top quality meat reared just on grass. Alistair supplies beef to Waitrose, through Dovecote Park.

Pig producer, Anthony Bradley, is filmed on his farm in Long Preston, where together with brother, Andrew, they run the Blue Pig Company. Although only a small enterprise, the company produces sausages, bacon, hams, black pudding and specialities such as pancetta from the herd of traditional breed Saddleback and Gloucester Old Spot pigs.

Pigs in the hills of Craven are a rarity - but Anthony believes they are invaluable for improving the pasture for the flock of Mule sheep and beef Shorthorn cattle, also reared on the 170 acre farm.

Andrew operates the dedicated butchery on the farm which keeps pubs, cafes and restaurants in the area supplied.

Anthony also works part time repairing the area's iconic dry stone walls - which farmers and landowners hope will be respected by the many thousands of people expected for the Tour.

Richard Pearson, NFU regional director, said the goal was to highlight the diversity of food and drink produced in the country's largest county and the work carried out b y farmers to manage the area's stunning landscape.

"We also wanted to show just how much our famers enjoy what they do," he said.

"Its true that the industry has challenges and we have seen our producers face difficult times, not least in the snow last year and struggling with low beef returns this year. But the vast majority of farmers who manage 70 per cent of the county's area simply would not do anything else.

"Its a vocation, a way of life and you only have to watch the film to see how much they love it."

He said welcoming the Tour was a fantastic opportunity to showcase the county.

"Our love of farming must be clear to anyone travelling around the area and I hope this film will put the farming community at the heart of this amazing event."

Also part of the Tour, a collaboration between the NFU, Massey Ferguson and satellite broadband company Avonline, has seen the provision of a free wifi service.

The two specially fitted out tractors will be situated in four of the busiest spots on the route, moving from stage one (Saturday) to stage two (Sunday) overnight.

People within 500 metres of the tractors will be able to contact to the internet and social media.

On Saturday, one will be situated at the Dales Visitor Centre in Grassington - where around 3,000 people are expected.

"We are really excited about this project and we hope it will add to people's enjoyment of what will be an amazing event," said Mr Pearson.

He said people knew only too well getting internet access in the countryside could be tricky.

"It's obvious spectators will want to use their phones to access visitor information and post pictures, tweets and so on, and as we understand how frustrating a lack of broadband in rural areas can be, we wondered if this was something we could help with," he said.

The result was a working partnership with Massey Ferguson and Avonline.

"Tractors can indeed be mobile wifi hotspots," he said.