Whether some want a more modern branding, there’s no getting away from the fact that we are known as the Garden of England – nationally and internationally – and it is something we should be proud of.

Farming is the heritage of our county and something that needs to be preserved.

With advances in technology, the brand might not have changed, but the way we produce certainly has.

A career in agriculture or horticulture now offers so much more than traditional labour-based roles, anything from veterinary, biotechnology through to genetics. Agriculture is essential for the sustenance of our future, so why does our education system not recognise this?

League tables seem to be the flavour of the day for our schools, so the proposed reforms to drop environmental GCSEs from the tables could have an impact on our young people looking at entering the sector.

Do the powers up above not recognise its importance? Do they somehow see it as not valid or worthy of entering the league tables? It’s certainly important to us as a county. It’s our heritage and our future.

School farms play such an important role in getting young people interested in the rural economy. If the work no longer counts towards the all-important league tables, will schools continue to run them, especially as budgets get tighter?

There are new GCSEs on the horizon but they don’t have the hands on approach that you get from the current system – an approach that brings the subject to life for our young people.

We need future generations to go into the sector to build upon the work done by our ancestors.

The farming community of the past didn’t have the international competition that our farmers face today. It’s a very competitive industry and we need to stay ahead and that means exciting our young people at an early age. We don’t want to lose our heritage and end up replacing planting crops with planting houses.