Some sighs of relief and serious stuff

Today's Farmers Weekly wrote that the EU were going to allow British lamb for export again after the F&M problems, for the first time since February.

Scotland has not had a case of F&M and it seems unfair that they had been included in the ban for so long, although the initial reasons were understandable. Only F&M free counties in England and Wales will be able to export so its not good news for all our nations sheep farmers but its a start. None of the lamb will be live export which is a blessing as I've always felt that there is no need in this day and age for animals to travel such distances in a live state.

We have, throughout the time, continued to accept imports from countries where F&M is endemic. In my view this is utter madness.

Bad news is, and I'm sure its no different in your countries, the age of farmers has gone up again. The average farmer now is 58 years old, young skilled workers like myself are leaving in droves, farmers children are not intending to continue in the family business.

New blood is needed to take the industry forward and better. Some initiatives from a group or two have been implemented but unless more is done we are going to end up with no food producers. The general public seems now to be of the opinion that farmers are unnecessary ... How woefully wrong they are. We need to be consumer friendly and have good PR but as you all know, there are only so many hours in the day!

Do your children intend to continue in you muddy boots or not? Any ideas on how you might keep your children's interest in a life and work which is rapidly disappearing?