Richard and Judy, Posh and Becks, Morecombe and Wise - when it comes to natural couplings, it has to be said that the NFU and British Sugar make unlikely bed-fellows.
But the fact that these two long-standing antagonists will have to bury their differences and learn to get along was made crystal clear at a briefing I attended with the NFU last Friday.
All too often, the long term interests of the British sugar sector have been compromised because the two biggest stakeholders have been at loggerheads.
When it comes to negotiations in Brussels in particular, this lack of unity has encouraged DEFRA to fight more strongly for the UK's cane refining industry, rather than the UK's beet refining industry. That, at least, was the view of NFU sugar board chairman Will Martin.
That has to change. Further reform of the EU sugar regime is just around the corner and the EU Commission may well be interested in getting rid of quotas, as it plans for milk, and introducing far greater market liberalisation....
That may or may not be a desired outcome, but getting the best out of any new deal will depend on DEFRA fighting the UK's corner, and that in turn will require a display of unity between the NFU and British Sugar.
That won't be easy - this year's bitter wrangle over beet prices shows that.
But Mr Martin is right that issues such as crown tare, transport allowances, length of campaign, and even the beet price, have to be put into a long-term Inter-Professional Agreement. Only once this is done can the industry can get away from its annual bun fight and focus on the bigger picture of getting the next reform right.
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