This week marks the FUW’s annual Farmhouse Breakfast Week and across the country many have already opened their kitchens and have come together in village halls to celebrate the fantastic food farmers produce every day. It really is a flagship week for why #FarmingMatters.

Sitting around a table with family, friends, neighbours and colleagues to share what’s on your mind over a cup of tea or coffee - what better way is there to start the day?

On Tuesday, we started the day with a breakfast in Cardiff together with many industry stakeholders and politicians. It was a morning with Wales on a plate. Sausages from Welshpool; eggs from Aberdare; yoghurts from Llannefydd; potatoes from Pembrokeshire; Welsh Beef from Celtic Pride’s farm suppliers; milk and butter from Carmarthenshire and jam from the Llyn Peninsula.

We used the opportunity to talk to the many Assembly Members who joined us about a new way forward, fitting for a new year and a new decade. One that benefits all of Wales, our countryside and our coasts as well as our cities. A partnership deal based on commitment, support and sustainability.

This great industry knows a lot about all three qualities. Our rich network of family farms supports and fuels local communities, pump primes the circular economy and protects and nourishes our special Welsh culture and identity. We made it clear - our farmers look after our precious landscape for local people and visitors to enjoy every day of the year.

Our grass-based, rain refreshed, livestock production system is one of the world’s most sustainable. You - our farmers harness, encourage, replenish and replace the planet’s natural resources. Our ewes, lambs and cattle are raised with the highest welfare standards. We work with nature; we produce in harmony with the planet.

This honest way of providing wholesome food must not be spoken of in the same breath as those intensive farming empires in other parts of the world that readily pillage the environment for profit.

However, sustainability is not just about our industry’s positive contributions to the environmental necessity of combatting climate change. We have new opportunities to build a wider, deeper sustainability around the way we live and work, to make a long-lasting, positive change to current and future generations of Welsh citizens.

And this, amongst many other things, we will continue to work towards. By working together we will climb above the noise; promote our timeless story, our way of producing and our farming champions and continue to highlight just why #FarmingMatters.