DEAR EDITOR: I sometimes wonder if farmers will be overwhelmed by the challenges of busy farms, securing a family income, coping with weather events before ever considering climate change targets and consumer expectations, dealing with the same cost of living crisis as everyone else, while often being portrayed as villains as if they were fracking food out of the ground. I need not wonder.

Every two years on days like last Tuesday the gates open for the Moorepark open day and they arrive in droves, full of curiosity and energy looking for that extra 1% here and 2% there to bring home to these multi-generational farms to make all the small differences that add up to this remarkable pasture-based food system we have today.

Days like last Tuesday remind me that they know their value, they’re going nowhere and we’re lucky they produce our food and care for our countryside.