One of the few really satisfying moments during a very unsatisfactory Royal Show was the presentation to Dr Helmut Claas of a rarely awarded Gold Medal.
The Medal is reserved for people who have made "outstanding and sustained contributions to our industry" and few deserve it more than Dr Claas.
He is, of course, German by birth but an Englishman by adoption. Indeed he is a Suffolk farmer.
Furthermore his combine harvesters are now estimated to gather in more than half of UK grain each year. And that takes no account of the grass and silage machinery in which his company is world leader, the balers and now the Claas tractors that are being seen on British farms in ever increasing numbers.
If I sound like a fan, that is an accurate assessment. I have used Claas equipment since I began farming. And, like many other UK farmers, I count myself a privileged friend of Helmut Claas as well as a customer.
A few weeks ago during the FW study tour of Germany I took the party to look round the main production factory at Harsewinkel. After we had seen the amazing technology in what is now probably the most modern farm machinery factory in the world we went to the nearby farm where it is possible to test drive some of the models made by Claas. A little later Helmut and his wife Erika joined us. First, they shook hands with all of us in the British party. Then they did the same with the Claas staff members there to look after us.
By such respect for their workers the Claas family - and it is still a family owned business - earn the loyalty of their workers and that is just one of the reasons, together with Helmut engineering genius, why they produce world beating machines.
Thankyou Helmut for all you have done for UK agriculture. And congratulations.