AS YOU read this, the chances are that this past week has proved a turning point for the weather and provided a chance for grass to grow and crops to be sown.

There is nothing like a week of better weather to gladden the soul and bring a much needed glimmer of hope to those beleaguered by a whole set of circumstances beyond their control.

While the industry has resolved itself not to mump and moan too much, there remains much to address. A good one would be for ScotGov to immediately pick up the bill for lifting all the fallen stock from farms hit by the bestial storms that have wracked the country.

It won't be a hard thing to do as much of the damage has already been done, but this token of helping people to get some outcome from a ewe that will never produce again or a lamb that will never see a market, would be a welcome lifeline for businesses in need. The receipts for this grisly toll are already there for scrutiny – it won't be rocket science to enable the tab to be picked up for the past four months.

Another helpful idea would be the suspension of various crops going in to the seemingly unending process of using farm-land crops for bio-power production at times of hardship for the livestock industry. It's a controversial topic, but this year many a bale of silage and straw, and tonnes of rye and fodder beet were grown destined for anaerobic digesters – and they could have been a life-saver on many farms desperate for fodder during what proved to be a long, hard winter.

We knew the situation was bad in the back-end and so provision could have been made, at least tentatively or strategically, then? No one need lose out – the suppliers of raw materials might even have had an enhanced income and as for those owning the bio-digesters, the wind turbine industry has already set a precedent for being paid for not producing power due to a lack of wind!

However, a much easier way would be to divert the production of used grains from distilleries back on to the feed market as, increasingly, they are becoming part of the renewable equation. But, it seems slightly sleazy that a highly profitable industry, which has already made its money out of the grain and which has hitherto been a vital provider of cheap protein to the livestock industry, is now being paid to use it in other ways and make a mint out of it again in the process.