WHILE it might be almost comforting that weather woes have taken over from Brexit blues, it's just one thing after another for Scotland's farmers – and therefore it is easy to see why mental health issues are at acute levels in the industry.

There is no doubt that this harvest will come with costs added as a result of the weather. Not the least of which will be the worries and stress that goes with it. Add in the double whammy of declining quality and it is going to be a tough one to ride out for arable farmers.

They will have the comfort, however, of knowing that the yield potential for much of what remains to be harvested is good – whether it will have the ability to gain a 'premium', is another matter.

An old saying used to be that 'the sign of a good lambing was a rusty spade and a fat dug' – this year's homily for crop growers will be that 'a good harvest, will be any one that's in the barn.' The prediction is for better weather next week and if that happens, then there will be diesel and midnight oil burnt aplenty across the country to secure the grains and oilseeds which, literally, fuel the industry in one way or another.

A good 10-day spell will be needed to rescue a crop which, a month ago, was looking as well as it has ever done. Here's hoping.

BBC's sea-change

IT WOULD appear that the BBC has been stung by recent criticism of its anti-farming stance, especially from its newsgathering teams.

This week, its morning programmes featured farming as it should be portrayed – even handedly and giving it some credence for the role that it plays in preserving and improving the environment.

I did have a bit of a wry laugh, however, in the piece it did on an 'ethical' vegan's meeting with a passionate sheep farmer. When the 'ethical' person refused to even touch the wool he had just shorn off a ewe – which seemed pretty glad to have its 'coat' removed – she was wearing what was pretty obviously a polyester jacket, stuffed presumably with even more padding produced from some other kind of man-made product. It did raise a smile.

Her contention was that cotton – probably one of the most profligate wastes of water resources you could imagine – and silk, were the only things she considered sustainable. The question is: If wool from a sheep is not sustainable, then what of silk, which is made from the death of the caterpillars of silkworms?