It’s been a week of highs and lows - and I’m not just talking about the weather! I left Quercus Park with a spring in my step after the three days of Agfest. I thought it was just sensational. The Rural Youth army runs the event with military precision; nothing is left to chance; everywhere you looked there is a volunteer doing their job professionally; nothing daunts them.

Here's a story to make you see red - or green. Most people would understand that the pet gripe of farmers is unnecessary red tape and that their common enemy is the army of shiny-arsed bureaucrats who seek to enforce that red tape. But more and more of that red tape is actually green – rules and regulations that require farmers to take more and more steps and spend more and more money on ‘protecting’ the environment.

The economics teacher in me would like to remind you of the importance of “horizontal fiscal equalisation”. Now, before you get too excited, this does not mean robbing someone’s pockets when they are lying in the gutter – but the analogy is on the right track.