THE Great Yorkshire Show is a true testing ground of opinion for those involved in food, farming, rural life and far beyond. This year it was the 160th, the last one before Britain is due to leave the European Union in March 2019, and so a historic event. Opinions on what that means for the future ranged from falling off a cliff to entering a brave new world and most places in between,so probably reflecting the country as a whole.

Worry over uncertainty, lack of clarity and what on earth is it going to mean were the brunt of many conversations, well for those who could still bear to talk about it. Minette Batters, President of the NFU was a real breath of fresh air talking enthusiastically about bringing agriculture and food into line with other goods and protecting UK standards.

It's understandable that every producer, retailer, business and service wants to protect jobs and push for better in the Brexit debate. The reality was summed up by Ms Batters: "It is a time of great risk, opportunity and change, I don't think we would want to go through what we have gone through to expect things to stay the same."

It's worth looking back at the history of the Show. Anything that's been held 160 times since 1838, grown from strength to strength and is now seen as England's biggest and best is a worthy example to follow. It used to be peripatetic, held all over the region from Darlington and Northallerton to Bradford before roots were put down in 1951 and a bunch of clever trustees formed the Yorkshire Agricultural Society. They bought 200 acres of Harrogate real estate and built up from there. Only war, foot and mouth and the occasional flood defeated it, Brexit will come and go, but the show will go on.