Next Tuesday morning “here we go again” will be front of mind, as huge numbers of us sit into our cars and hit the road to Offaly for the Ploughing Championships. The weather app is telling me to expect rain, but I don’t think anyone will really complain about that this year.

I am particularly looking forward to the Ploughing, as it will give me and the team at Irish Country Living (ICL) a great opportunity to meet with you and hear your thoughts first hand, so I hope that you will drop by the stand (block 3, row 12, stand 264) to see us.

Neven will be taking to the stage again for his daily demonstrations and this year we are holding a new event on Tuesday at 5pm called An Evening with Irish Country Living. I will be hosting a panel discussion with our writers as well as some of the fantastic people featured in ICL, discussing all things country living. So if you ever thought of being an ICL cover star or if you are just interested in coming along, please drop us a line to events@farmersjournal.ie

At last week’s annual Agricultural Science Association conference, there were plenty of sobering conversation in relation to the way that consumers now view our industry and the food we produce.

Zoe Kavanagh from the NDC said that despite worrying about their own weight, mums recognise the nutritional value of dairy products for their families. According to NDC research, however, the younger generation of women have more concerns about dairy. The issue here of course is that these women are the mothers of the future. In my opinion, and in my experience, children do what they see and therefore the actions of their parents can have a lasting impact on their consumption patterns. This is not an exact science of course, as most broccoli-loving parents will attest to.

Another call out was that consumers were taking a more à la carte approach to their consumption of dairy products. This suggests that for some this is a trend that is currently fashionable and, therefore, it could dissipate over time. The importance of continuing to promote the nutritional value and superior quality of Irish food products, therefore, remains a must. Several times over the course of the day, it was noted that the most trusted person in the food chain is the farmer.

Shockingly, even this weekend I read that a farmer cast aspersions on the quality of the product of his contemporaries while speaking at a public event. This is appalling. Irish farmers are held to the highest standards globally and recognised for this. We must support each other across sectors, as difficulties are often shared amongst the farming community.

I have been inundated with texts and calls from readers enthusiastic to get the details of this year’s Woman & Agriculture Conference. I am thrilled to tell you all that this year’s event, once again supported by FBD, will take place in the fabulous Europe Hotel in Killarney on 24 October. All the information you need is available on page 13. CL