The Big Debate: Have the past 50 years left a good or bad legacy for UK farming?

There’s no escaping the fact that farming is going through some tumultuous times. We’ve had a summer of floods and foot-and-mouth and an autumn of bluetongue and now avian flu.

But every now and then, it is worth lifting our heads and taking a wider look at what is going on in our industry. It is a chance to reflect and more fully appraise, where we are right now and, more importantly, where we are going.

With this is mind, we’ve brought back our The Big Debate series which gives everyone the opportunity to have their say on a key farming issue.

The question we have chosen is a big one: Have the past 50 years left a good or bad legacy for UK farming?

It’s a debate that we at Farmers Weekly have started, but what we really want to know is what do you think?

It is a question of particular interest to our next generation of farmers – and as such there are some tickets to the Oxford Farming Conference up for grabs for those of you who take part.

But whether you are nearing the end of your career or just starting out we want to hear what you think.

Just read the arguments set our by former NFU president Lord Plumb and FW columnist Matthew Naylor and decide where your vote lies.

Don’t sit back and leave it to others – vote now on the Question of the Week and get into the debate on our discussion forums.

We’re not looking for massive submissions on the subject – they can be as short or as long as your like – but if you think there are some important points that our proponents have missed then share your thoughts.

We’ll bring you the results and a selection of the best comments in the next couple of weeks.