The Welsh certainly know how to stage an agricultural show. The weather is glorious and the scenery stunning - this week the FW editorial team are reporting from the Royal Welsh in Builth Wells, Powys and what an amazing event it is.
The organisers have got the balance just right - a good livestock showcase, a celebration of farming and food from Wales combined with full on entertainment for all ages. Attendance figures for the first day were an impressive 51,360 at 3pm, which is 3000 up on last year and 2000 up on the 10 year average.
This show has everything going for it in terms of a passion about farming and the local environment. As you'd expect, there is a positive tribal vibe going on and visitors receive an extemely warm welcome from the Welsh. This is customer focus at its best.
At times it resembles Glastonbury, such is the appeal for young people. There are thousands of them enjoying all aspects of the show and not just the beer and social scene.
A reliable source told me yesterday that I was the first ever FW editor to attend, which is pretty poor given the quality of the event and the volume of readers we have in the region. I have been knocked for six by the enthusiasm here and the positive tone. I must also admit that it's woken me up to the potential in terms of devolution.
The Welsh have a unique approach to most things and their devolved parliament is already delivering real benefits to farmers, particularly on animal health policy. It's clear that at FW we need to work harder at representing the differences in Wales and Scotland through our content in the magazine and the website. That can sometimes be difficult to achieve when page space in print is limited but yesterday we came in for criticism from the new director at NFU Cymru Mary James who argued that we are not doing enough reporting from Wales especially when their approach on issues such as bovine TB and badger culling is completely the opposite to the rest of England. It's a fair point but what do others think?
FW now has two correspondents in Wales - Bob Davies, based in Welshpool, who has been reporting for us for over 40 years and Gaina Morgan, an experienced former broadcast journalist and farmer. Its our intention to step up our coverage from the region not just in words and pictures, but also videos and forum interactivity. More Welsh farmers have web and broadband access these days so we will be encouraging them to participate in FWiSpace. If you're attending the show, then share your pictures in our gallery.