Minette Batters has been a powerhouse for the farming community - Sarah Todd

Of course, being 20-something, she took no notice and went along to the meeting with no idea really who she was going to listen to.

When the talk attendee came home, after the pie and peas supper and a good catch up with her fellow young farmers, this correspondent was already tucked up in bed.

Up the stairs she came, to put her head around the door and declare: “That Minette Batters, what a woman!”

As is the habit of her father, she proceeded to ignore all that she’d been told in advance and make out as if she had discovered the phenomenon that is the first lady president of the organisation that represents Britain’s farmers.

“She’s stepping down,” reported the audience member, eyes shining with all that she’d learnt and heard. “What a shame, we’d all got enthusiastic and then she said that…”

It’s only right that Ms Batters has called time on her tenure. She’s put in a more than fair shift with six years as president and four as deputy.

Visibility is key when it comes to getting farming’s story across and she is undeniably A-list, with more appearances on the Today programme than any other public figure who is not a member of His Majesty’s Government. She was spot on with the way she called out MP Jacob Rees-Mogg for being “totally and utterly morally bankrupt” for hailing hormone injected beef from Australia as having nothing wrong with it; adding with aplomb that there wasn’t a shadow of a doubt that the Aussies would have deported him if he'd been representing them.

Of course, she’s not been everybody’s cup of tea. There has been the occasional grumble claiming she cares more about the big boy corporates of the NFU compared to the more grass-roots farmer members. But, in mitigation, last week’s gathering couldn’t have been more grassroots.

Whatever, her tenure of the top job comes to an end in February and, as sure as eggs is eggs, that will come around in the blink of an eye after the turkey leftovers are eaten.

With a general election looming and far-reaching changes in agricultural payment policies coming in, her successor quite simply won’t have time to settle into the job. They will have to hit the ground running. In short, it is vital for farming’s future that the right person for the job is chosen. There is no time to allow for any mistakes to be made.

Meanwhile, across the channel, French farmers have taken to the streets to demonstrate against their government’s policies in relation to glyphosate and fallow land.

There is something about the passion of the French, who have been dumping farmyard manure in the streets.

Arnaud Rousseau, president of the NFU equivalent, the National Federation of Agricultural Holders’ Unions (FNSEA), and Arnaud Gaillot, president of Young Farmers, or Jeunes Agriculteurs (JA), led their organisations in the protests with the aim of demanding more visibility and consistency from Marc Fesneau, Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty.

In a joint statement, the leaders of both organisations said that France “must clarify its vision of the agricultural future and make its real intentions clear.”

Yes, the way the French wear their hearts on their sleeve and are prepared to go to protest over what they believe in is really rather refreshing. It sometimes seems that over here, in the British countryside, we are much more under the cosh of conforming.

One exception has hit the headlines, with the judge in a recent court case coming down on the side of a farmer.

The row started within a couple of weeks of a couple moving into a Cornish village they had fallen in love with while on holiday. The husband and wife objected to where the farmer was leaving his rubbish and the falling out escalated to such a level they are now reportedly having to sell the property to pay the legal costs.

Anybody moving into the countryside and following the well-trodden path of then trying to change its ways would do well to take note.