Christmas is a time of movement, but also a time when everything stops.
For those with family and friends scattered around the country, and the ability to travel, it is a period of much hustle and bustle as we try to share festive cheer with those dearest to us.
Yet it can also be a time that reaffirms why we love home so much, as the normal rhythm of life ceases and we pause, look afresh at familiar surroundings, and remember why there is no place like home.
See also: Editor’s view: The NFU isn’t being listened to, what next?
The many beautiful snaps you have sent in for our annual photo competition provide another rich celebration of the beauty of the British countryside and its inhabitants that reminds us how lucky we are to be a part of it.
But perhaps to truly appreciate what makes home so special you need to leave it for a while, as the contrasts are only revealed by experiencing what life is like elsewhere.
Farming around the world
In this year’s special festive double issue we’ve helped you leave these shores behind from the comfort of your armchair by bringing you inspiring and entertaining farming stories from around the world.
Some may say there isn’t much we can learn from farmers overseas as food producers in each country clearly have different sets of challenges to tackle, brought on by varying geography, economy and politics.
If I had a pound for every time I heard someone say: “Well, it’s alright for them, but it would never work on my farm,” I’d have enough money for a first-class ticket to visit Dutton Ranch in beautiful Colorado (the farm made famous by hit drama Yellowstone).
But as you read through this special edition, I hope you will agree with me that there is more that unites the global farming community than divides it.
There’s much to be learned from the Canadian inventors featured in the Machinery section, who have come up with a slew of nifty pieces of kit that could be put to work on arable farms here, or the New Zealand sheep producers managing to breed in worm resistance.
And as French regen farming pioneer Frederic Thomas notes in the Arable section, some of the biggest global challenges – food, energy and fertiliser shortages – are common to us all and are sadly being treated with complacency by many governments.
Sentiment survey
Our latest Sentiment Survey results show the Tories are fast losing support in the countryside, but British farmers are far from the only farming fraternity frustrated with how they are treated by politicians.
The fragility of the global food supply chain has, of course, been brought into sharp focus by the key news-making event of this year – the war in Ukraine.
Back in October at the Farmers Weekly Awards, we recognised the farmers of Ukraine as the recipients of our Farming Champion award.
As they, along with the rest of the population, endure a bitterly cold winter without much of their power supply, I hope you will continue to keep them in your thoughts.
The penalty of higher energy and food prices here does not seem so much to endure when we remember what they are sacrificing in order to preserve their freedoms.
So give generously to those in need if you can and toast again the farmers of Ukraine from your table as you feast. May next year bring them relief.
Merry Christmas to you all.
