Self-regulation doesn't inspire trust

IN a week when the world caved in for the BBC's establishment, one of its longest-running, most understated programmes scored a prodigious hit. Countryfile out-Clarksoned Clarkson! The episode screened last week showed how British vegetable farmers are fighting back at the devastation caused by drought and flood.

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It was spot on. It showed exactly how difficult modern farming is and pulled no punches on the serious effects of a changing climate and the threat it poses to food supplies. At the same time, it celebrated the remarkable advances in genetics that are giving farmers a real chance to combat the existential threat to their businesses.

After the second-worst harvest in our history, vegetable producers, centred in Lincolnshire, are turning to new varieties of cauliflower and broccoli that are more able to withstand the extremes of weather.