CHANGE is in the air, at British, European and indeed world level, as many of the certainties of the post-war years drop away, and a whole new vista of threats and opportunities open up.
Farming, which has perhaps for too long avoided society’s various upheavals, is right in the thick of it this time, as climate change, geopolitics and demographic shifts raise questions never asked of the industry before. 
Looking through the pages of The Scottish Farmer this week, ahead of its despatch to the printing presses, the choice of the stories that stand out to the eye might say something about a reader’s personality.
A pessimist cannot miss the dire warnings over Brexit, and the gnawing fear that, whether it all works out for the best in the long run, next March might see the kind of market disruption usually reserved for wartime; or the gloomy predictions about climate change’s likely impact on our ability to produce – and indeed society’s willingness to eat – the foodstuffs that Scotland has long specialised in.
And it would take a heart of stone not to feel somewhat cast down by the accounts of rural depression and even suicide that we highlight in these very pages. However, an optimist can pick up this very same paper and see the seeds of hope in those very same accounts.
After all, talking about a problem is the first step towards fixing it, and it certainly seems that this time of change has broken the seal on a whole lot of topics that Scottish farming simply was not getting around to dealing with of its own volition.
Our optimistic reader can also find accounts of new initiatives to attract young people into agriculture, with succession no longer a dirty word, and the notion of share farming catching a wave of youthful enthusiasm, a trend that will undoubtedly be bolstered by all the clever work now going into hi-tech farming, offering touch-screen tapping where once drudgery was the only choice.
Is it alright to be upbeat about reforestation of some of our hills? Our forestry section records rock solid returns for timber and biomass, and there are a plethora of advisers who reckon that putting the right tree in the right place need be no barrier to continued upland livestock production, and, in fact, offers red meat producers the chance of fresh environmental credibility, and a spot of shelter for the sheep when the wind gets up. 
And talking about red meat, the industry is now visibly rising to the challenge thrown down by the vegan and vegetarian lobbies, with a slew of promotional initiatives aimed squarely at the young, which most probably would never have happened had the sector not taken a few unfair punches below the belt first.
So change is in the air, and rather than bemoaning it, delaying it or flat out seeking to avoid it, the signs are that our industry is rising to meet it head on, with our youngsters actually excited by that challenge.