At the time of writing it is almost the last day of May and the weather is glorious, perfect for our few acres of hay which will hopefully be ready to bale in a couple of days, writes Hugh Besent.

We hope it will be easier than in usual years to bring it home along the main road.

What relaxations of the lockdown we will face will be in the hands of the politicians, as usual.

It is a fine balance between protection for lives and for the future of livelihoods and businesses.

It must be fun living on the border in these challenging times. As a past NFU Cymru Group secretary, I had many members who had farms which straddled the border of England and Wales. I am still in contact with many of them, and I’m sure one or two of them won’t know if they’re ‘Cumming’ or going at the moment. In my opinion, politicians and their advisers will have a lot to answer for eventually.

The comments of our local politicians made interesting reading in the County Times (May 20) under the headline, ‘Politicians Clash over Vote against farming Bill change’.

It was good to see Kirsty Williams MS raising concerns about the Agriculture Bill and querying why a number of MPs, including our local MPs, failed to back British farming in the Agriculture Bill amendment.

I trust that she regards Powys farmers so highly that she will be as vocal in her support of NFU Cymru and Welsh farming in opposing the all Wales Nitrate Vulnerable Zone (NVZ) which is a much more immediate and certain risk to every farmer.

Farmers have been encouraged to visit the Menter a Busnes website and involve ourselves in developing a scheme that works for both farmers and government. Here is our chance to “co-design for a sustainable farming scheme for Wales”. We expected a short online survey as advertised in their glossy advert. But where is the survey? There are no relevant questions, no chance to leave observations or suggestions. It seems like another paper exercise.