In last month's column I wrote of two meetings I attended, and that was followed by the Fellows of the Royal Agricultural Society's conference at Ingliston.

There, we had three young speakers – Anna Playfair Hannay, from M and S; Andrew Lawrie, the vice-chairman of SAYFC; and Colin MacGregor, a farmer who also has a large contracting acreage.

Their theme was simply 'Change' and the need to reduce the average age of the farmers of today, including how we need more young people in the farming industry.

Having had time to think about the subject, I am afraid it will be difficult to change. When I left school some 60 plus years ago, we were told the average age of farmers was nearly 60, so that has not changed. But, in my view, that is not accurate because in many cases there are at least two generations – increasingly three generations – working on some farms today.

No matter which way you divide it, the average age is nearer 40 than 60 of those who are making the management decisions.

The second part of the theme – how do we get more young people into farming – I cannot see this happening either. If you look back to any period in the last 100 years, it has never happened.

The majority of my peers’ parents were born in the early 1900s into much larger farming families than we have today. As an example, my wife and I have more than 40 cousins, whereas our grandsons have three and our grand-daughter has four! That is the case in many farming families today.

The other thing that has not changed in that time was when there was more than one son, they often became vets, accountants or doctors because it was as hard to get into farming then as it is today.

Another concerning statistic, is that at least 90% of farmers over 50 do not have any additional pension over and above their state pension, which means that the farming business has to support them in their elderly years. Compounding that is the fact that the majority of farms today have one or more family members working off farm in order to supplement the income of the farm.

So, if we deduct outside farm income, remove BPS support, combine that with reduced land values and increased borrowing, the question has to be asked – what kind of state is farming in and that is before Brexit?

'The challenge of the generation change' was promoted by the after dinner speech given by Grierson Dunlop, to FRAgS membersat a dinner in Holyrood, hosted by John Scott MSP. This son of Andrew Dunlop, from Midkelton, Castle Douglas, is a credit to his father.

As a lawyer, Grierson was telling the story of how 'many fathers and sons start off the morning as if World War 3 had broken out'. By lunch time, they are almost speaking normally to each other and by tea time they seemed to be the best of pals! I wonder how many times this takes place between the generations?

Only a few weeks ago, I walked into a market to be met by a fellow farmer whom I do not often see at the mart, so I asked him what it was that was bringing him there today?

"Well, Jim, I will tell you the truth. You would think all hell had broken out with the next generation this morning. He thinks his father is a failure, has not a clue how to run a business and everything he has done has been more wrong than right and as seems to be often the case, mother is the mediator to calm the issues. So I have come to the market to let him make his own mistakes and, hopefully, I will have a chat with my fellow farmers and hear about their problems," he told me.

Sadly, there is hardly a month goes by that I do not hear of similar situations. The older generation, usually from larger families, who started from meagre beginnings and have built up a thriving business, seem to have more difficulty in passing on responsibility to the following generation.

Then, the younger generation think they should be doing the opposite from their father's to try and prove they have to change because everyone says that is what is needed!

Now to a subject that has been simmering for several years – the Agricultural Flat-Rate VAT Scheme, devised by the EU back in 2002 to help small pork, lamb, and beef farmers who did not claim VAT back on inputs, but were able to add 4% on the livestock that went to abattoirs. For finished beef cattle, this could come to as much as £50 per head.

This issue has been brought to the public domain because of a case in Northern Ireland, where the Shields family, like several others, were removed from the flat-rate scheme in 2012 by HMRC. They had a prolonged battle with HMRC, but they finally brought their case to the European Court, which they won!

The outcome is that the Shields will have all their lost 4% VAT on finished cattle, plus all their legal costs, paid back. This now opens the door for, I am told, up to 20 other farmers who were also removed in 2012.

The SF reported that there are some 1700 businesses in the UK on the flat-rate scheme, some of whom are my best friends. But, I also know that there are several accountants who will not touch the scheme with a barge pole. I also have heard that there are a few farmers who are currently applying to get on it as a result of the Shields case.

What of its future? The elephant is still in the room on this, so what is Westminster or, for that matter, the devolved Governments going to do about it after we leave the EU? I am led to believe that some of the largest beef finishers throughout the EU28 use this scheme.

There is no doubt it does distort the store cattle trade and a lot feel that in the UK it should either be for all finishers, or none.

Since the early 1970s, either through business, pleasure, agri-politics, or speaking requests, I have seen most of the UK. Like most farmers, we like to farm as we travel.

In the past eight days I have been in East Lothian, north of Perth, Balfron, Ulverston, Lancaster, across the north of England to York, where I saw a very interesting beef unit, then back up the M1/A1 on to Ayr and Girvan.

After a day at home we collected two grandsons who had qualified for the Pony Club's triathlon, which was held at Milton Keynes! When we left last Saturday, the temperature was -1°C and not a good forecast and we only saw a few snow flurries – but we awakened to a white world, and still -1°C, though we had no travel disruptions.

Having travelled close to 2000 miles in such a short time, how does the country appear to be faring from a farming perspective? Historically, I have measured the progress of farming in UK by looking over hedges and seeing new steadings or buildings being erected and how crops are looking.

I know that I have to take into account that for most of last year many of us would like to forget it and it looks as if we are going to have a late spring. If I am to measure how farming is doing by the increase in the threshes, then our industry is in a bad state!

Couple that with no more than a handful of buildings appearing and a distinct lack of painting on existing steadings, fences in bad order, and hedges not trimmed, it does not make a pretty picture.

My next observation has nothing to do with farming, but I can tell you that my lawn has more green grass on it than I saw anywhere! The only area where winter grain was looking good was on that grade one land around Ripon, in Yorkshire.

What our industry is needing is some nice warm dry weather to help lift the depressed feeling that seems to be engulfing some farmers. Let's look forward to spring!