2009 has been a year of ups and downs in the world of agri-business. Prices have reached record highs for some commodities, and dismal lows for others.
Some businesses have gone to the wall, while others have flourished.
But how much do you remember from the past 12 months? Are you a "Business Numpty" or a "Business Genius".
To test your knowledge, I have devised the following quiz:
Having sat through many pre-Budget reports and Budgets over the years, I can honestly say that today's offering from Chancellor Alistair Darling was one of the least interesting I can remember.
From an agricultural point of view, there was next to nothing. Even the invited experts contributing to our Cover It Live feature seemed to struggle at times - though their input was a good deal more entertaining than Mr Darling's monotonous tones.
Usually with these things it is the case that more substance emerges once the Chancellor has sat down and the accountants have had time to trawl through the press releases.
But even this process seems to have thrown up precious little. In a nutshell, the key points for farmers from today's pre-Budget speech are as follows:
• National Insurance contributions are to rise by 0.5% above a £20,000 threshold, but not until 2011
• VAT to return to 17.5% on 1 Jan, though farmers generally reclaim their VAT anyway
• Empty commercial properties with a rateable value of less than £18,000 will be exempt from business rates for another year (2010/11)
• Earnings from domestic wind turbines and solar panels to be tax free
• State pensions are to increase 2.5% from April 2010...
This week's Budget has been almost universally condemned in the mainstream media.
The Telegraph, clearly no friends of New Labour, described the increase in top-rate tax to 50% as "a return to class war", while The Guardian, generally more chummy with Gordon Brown's government, spoke of "Labour's last gasp".
Certainly the "bigger picture" stuff does leave you wondering. The Chancellor's forecasts for economic recovery look massively over-optimistic, while his policy to "tax and spend" our way out of recession is a gamble.
Time will tell whether he has got it spectacularly wrong or made the best of a bad job, though no one seems very optimistic.
But within the world of agriculture, there are undoubtedly more positives than negatives to emerge from the acres of small print that always accompany the Chancellor's speech.
The key positives are as follows:
• Capital allowances will double to 40% for this financial year only. The first £50,000 of any new investment can already be set against tax under the Annual Investment Allowance. But 40% of spending above that level on plant and machinery can also be claimed against tax. Sole traders, partners and farming companies can apply
• Agricultural Property Relief is being extended to the whole of the European Economic Area. Until now, farmers could only claim this relief from 40% Inheritance Tax on agricultural property in the UK. But this is now being extended to property held in the EEA
• Enhanced loss relief is being extended for two years. This means any trading losses made in 2008/09 or 2009/10 can be offset against profits made in the three previous years and used to claim a tax rebate
• The situation regarding VAT and farm rents has been clarified. It had been feared that, since VAT was cut from 17.5% to 15% last December, this could constitute a "change in rent". As such, rents on AHA tenancies could not have then been reviewed for another three years. The Budget confirms that this will not be the case
• Other more general positives include the decision to increase the maximum amount that can be saved tax free in ISAs to £10,200, an increase in the Capital Gains Tax threshold to £10,100 and the introduction of a £10m grant scheme for anaerobic digesters and composting machines
• The £2000 "scrappage" scheme for cars over ten years old should also have an "agricultural relevance"
Then there are the negatives:
