The rural economy is affected by Brexit more than many, if not most, other sectors because the way we have run our businesses and managed the land has been shaped by EU money and regulation for more than 40 years and, without doubt, Brexit and all its ramifications will dominate the agenda for most of 2017.

But it does seem extraordinary that it was just over a year ago that a new self-confident Government with a clear overall majority laid out its economic plan to fix the foundations of the economy with a new wave of public and private investment targeting greater productivity at its very heart.

Who would have predicted that within 12 months we would have seen such seismic change - yet here we are with a new Prime Minister, a new Secretary of State at Defra, a new face at the Treasury and a new future outside the EU.

However, in worrying about Brexit, it is important that we don’t lose sight all the other things we should – and could – be doing in the months ahead to support the wider rural economy and one of the tasks for organisation like the CLA in the year ahead, will be to put the rural economy very firmly in the spotlight.

It is becoming pretty clear that the Government’s Industrial Strategy and 25 year Plan for Food and Farming hold the key to unlocking the investment potential of our countryside in order to sustain the rural economy through Brexit.

The challenge, in this unfolding story, will be to hold ministers to their commitments to ensure that food and farming is not sidelined during their negotiations with our largest, and nearest, market place – Europe. Our ambition should be for a new era of free trade, a framework that genuinely promotes our interests, not a trade free-for-all, which swamps our market with cheap food of doubtful standard.

In the year ahead rural businesses must take ownership of how they are defined, and set out what makes them important, relevant and distinct – and what is needed for that air of confidence and vibrancy to develop and continue.

There is a challenge to think differently about the roles we can play, individually and collaboratively, the role our land might play and what it should be used for to ensure a strong future for the rural economy. We need to take responsibility for the future and look at what we can do with our assets and our skills rather than waiting for somebody else to tell us what we should be doing with them.