Full credit to the Young Farmers' movement for putting on a splendid finale to their Covid-19-hit 2020 and 2021 years with their Five Star Awards dinner in the new Members Pavilion at the Royal Highland Showground, last weekend.

What a testament to the enduring enthusiasm of the SAYFC organisation it was, with everywhere from Shetland to Stranraer represented. It was a night when even some of the 'oldies' came out of hibernation to celebrate the success of some fine award winners.

As the future of our industry, there is every reason to nurture their interest and enjoyment in what they do, but the YF has in more recent years used the vehicle of its Agri and Rural Affairs committee to further their political power and ambition.

Full steam ahead for them ... and for the new Members Pavilion that they helped christen. Catering was first class, the venue superb and the only problem that RHASS will have will be from realising that it's already too small!

Our commitment

Many of you will have noticed that The Scottish Farmer went up in price this week. But, like many businesses – agricultural and otherwise – we have been subjected to an unprecedented rise in input costs.

Just like farming, which witnessed at least a three-fold increase in fertiliser bills and much higher feed prices, we have also experienced massive increases in our consumables, like paper, which has risen by 20% in recent months. This week’s cover price rise only goes part-way to mitigating against this increase in costs for us. We will continue to invest and absorb the rest.

As editor, I’d also like to highlight that providing the quality and impartial journalism that we are well-known for requires feet on the ground … in the marts, showgrounds and in fields. It is not our intention to shy away from maintaining that by cutting costs and so we will continue to invest time, effort, and expense in making sure that The Scottish Farmer that drops through your letterbox, is collected from the local retailer, or delivered direct to your digital in-box, is relevant, informative and up to date. Our editorial mission is to continue without fear or favour to provide high quality and impartial journalism to you, our valued readers and customers.

If, for any reason, you cannot get a copy at retail level, then let us know about that too by phoning our circulation team on 0141 302 7316. In the meantime, check out our fantastic subscription offers on pages 16 and 17.

Our pledge to you remains in that we will strive to continue to keep you, our highly valued readers, abreast of what’s happening on a daily, weekly and long-term basis. We will, as usual, lead the way in ‘what’s happening’; ‘why it’s happened’; and ‘what it means’ for the industry, not just in Scotland, but on a wider UK and EU stage from both our well-established office team and our growing team of columnists and specialists.