VERY often in the past I have felt the agricultural industry has picked up on the negatives within it and perhaps tended to dwell on them.

Admittedly we do seem to lurch from one crisis to another, especially in recent years when we've had to deal with BSE, foot and mouth, TB and a whole host of legislation and bureaucratic problems foisted on us from either the EU or our own government.

I have recently been asked to assist in organising a pageant through Bromyard on April 10 at 3pm to help celebrate the opening of a new library and the unveiling of a frieze which depicts the history and present day of the town.

Because agriculture plays such a large part in the life of the town I have been asked to help organise a parade of equipment used in the industry.

While ringing people for a bit of help and to find out what machinery was available for display it began to dawn on me what a huge leap forward our industry has taken in technology in relatively few years.

My father, for example, has moved from following a pair of heavy draught horses all day ploughing an acre of land, to driving 170-horse power electronic state-of-the-art tractors turning over 300 acres a day comfortably. I shall never see changes to that extent in my lifetime, I'm sure.

So maybe we should, as farmers, take a moment to stand back and look at what our industry has achieved over the years and be proud and positive, not dwell on the negatives and uncertainties but grab change by the scruff of the neck and make it work for us.

We can, as an industry, plough a furrow through such things as the CAP reform and all the problems it may bring with it with positive thinking and a willingness to change.

When I run my mind's eye over a parade of agricultural equipment starting from a horse drawn wagon, through vintage tractors and threshing tackle to 200hp tractors and 400hp self-propelled forage harvesters, I honestly feel that as an industry we should be proud of what's been achieved and I shouldn't be too afraid of what lies ahead.

PAUL THOMAS