I have been watching the tv program Clarkson’s Farm. Those who have not watched it and are interested in the countryside or farming, may I respectfully suggest you watch it.

This is how farming is in “real life.” Agriculture is not just about lovely fields with sheep and cattle just lazily wandering around the areas eating grass.

It shows the tough side of farming and what it takes to put food on the table. Make no mistake, and to quote Jeremy Clarkson, “It’s bloody hard work”.

Jeremy Clarkson had no idea what he set himself up for when he decided to take over the running of a farm. Buying a Lamborghini tractor which was too big that it would not go through the tractor shed doors. Buying farm equipment, he had no idea how to attach it to the tractor, never mind finding out how to use it.

Then there was the situation with the local planning department putting one rule after another “You cannot do this because you don’t have that” or “You cannot do this because someone in the village has complained about the proposed building is blocking their view of the countryside.”

Come on, let us be realistic here. If it were not for the Guardians of the Galaxy, sorry, the Guardians of the Land, we would not have a countryside with friendly trimmed hedgerows and live stock cutting the lush green grass.

How many farmers in the UK have had the same problems with the planning departments?

Planning departments need to understand that without some flexibility to the farming community. Farms are just going to downsize slowly. Farmers don’t put a new planning application in for a new farm building because they feel like it. They put the application in because they need it to keep working on the land to make a living and put food on the table for everyone to enjoy, including those working in the planning departments.