I WOULD like to start this column by wishing you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year and hope you enjoyed a merry Christmas with plenty of rest in between. This year is going to be a busy one for all of us!

We are starting 2020 off with Farmhouse Breakfast Week. In our mind, there is no better place for bonding people together and sharing our ideas than over good food.

And because we want to continue our work to ensure that the voice of Welsh farming is heard at every level, farms across Wales will open their kitchens for us (January 20 - 26) once again.

This breakfast campaign gives us an opportunity to promote the quality premium local produce you grow for us every day of the year and throughout breakfast week we will shine a spotlight on the importance of our rural economy.

And we want you to be a part of what we do, share your thoughts and worries about the state of the industry, tell us your stories and help us to understand how we can help each other.

Please give us a call in the county office to have a chat about the various breakfast functions we are holding and most importantly - book your seat at our table.

2020 will be a critical year as far as politics is concerned and we have many meetings lined up in the coming weeks, where we will continue to promote why #FarmingMatters, highlighting the issues the industry currently faces.

An event that always brings farming to the forefront of our politician’s thoughts is the annual Farmhouse Breakfast in Cardiff. This year it is once again hosted by Llŷr Huws Gruffydd AM and we look forward to seeing many familiar faces.

We are proactive in steering discussions and are actively involved in shaping the decisions which will impact on agriculture's future, and sometimes the breakfast table is the best place to do just that.

I promise you that we are doing our utmost to ensure those who represent us in Cardiff and London do not sit back and wait for the outcome of discussions which ignore our rural areas.