IF you had sat me down a few years back and told me I would be writing this article, I would have mistaken it for a cruel April fool’s prank.

As I woke this morning to the sun shining over a frosty Nairnshire, it seems that April couldn’t be further away.

It was only six years ago that I sat in a lecture hall at Robert Gordon University about to embark on seven-year rollercoaster ride. It lasted three. Growing up on a family run farm with four siblings and two extremely hard working parents, farming for me, was a venture that I wasn’t in the slightest interested in.

However, if I’ve learnt anything, life has the tendency to spring a surprise on you now and again.

For a farmer, this is a daily occurrence! Roll on to the present day and I’ve gone from an architectural student to a student of agriculture … sort of.

Almost a decade ago, we decided to diversify the business and open our own butchery and farm shop.

From a herd of more than 140 cows and 400 ewes, it was our intention to promote and sell our own produce to the public.

Who better to sell their produce than the producer themselves?

That’s something that has gone astray, thanks to the booming supermarkets of today. In 2016, as manager of ‘Forbes Farm Fresh’, both the farm and butchery have helped each other grow in more ways than one.

The farm is now the happy owner of 60 outdoor sows. Yes, you’d think we’d all gone a bit mad up here, investing in pigs whilst everyone else was running for the exit door.

However, with prices on the up, the eight different varieties of pork sausages we make are flying out of the door faster than I can pack them and so is, surprising to us, the general public’s love of ‘hog roasts’. Our diversification in farming is the future.

The reason I am writing this today is because I want you to just take a moment to forget about the problems we face in our agricultural sector.

Just for a moment forget about ailing prices.

Forget about the cold wintry weather to come and especially forget about politics. As a country, I believe our produce is up there with the best.

Whether it’s beef, lamb, barley or milk. We should be proud of what we do.

There is no better feeling than when a customer tells me ‘that was the best steak I’ve ever had’.

If you are reading this thinking: ‘They haven’t tried our beef,’ then great.

It’s your produce.

All those hard hours you have slogged to create it.

In your eyes, it should be the best. We then must pass this on to the housewives and children of today.

Too often do you here of kids who think that burgers come from McDonald’s or their potatoes are made in Tesco.

The same supermarkets that sell New Zealand lamb under ‘Best of British’. But that’s a whole other argument that we won’t get onto.

One example, which you may have seen in your local area between August and October, was ‘Wham bam thank you lamb’, a campaign run by QMS.

The outcome of this was hugely successful with a boost in both lamb sales and Scotch lamb premiums.

Throughout the 12-week programme, ourselves along with local famers and the NFU have been out on the streets of Inverness cooking and giving away locally sourced Scotch lamb.

As much of a success as this was, we shouldn’t be relying on a scheme that runs for such a short period.

Promoting our produce should be a year in, year out agenda. From personal experience the public will pay more for the best produce.

They just need a gentle push in the right direction. Even if we can connect with a handful of people to convince them to try something that is just on their door step, the knock-on effect this could have would surly start to show.

Yes, wholesalers do take our produce for granted. The prices we receive show that.

Educating the youth of today should certainly be at the top of the to do list.

As a Young Farmer, I have seen firsthand the differences we are making, with SAYFC regularly working with local businesses and groups to offer training opportunities for members, from both agricultural and non-agricultural backgrounds.

Our local district recently held a meeting with the Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET).

Our aim was to provide the opportunity for children in the Highlands to learn about food, farming and the countryside via classroom and farm visits.

I do, however, believe we are improving on promoting what we produce, but we must keep at it. After all, it’s our way of life.