Farming's different tribes have been back out in force over the past 10 days, with a range of events happening across the country under Januarys leaden skies.
From last weeks two conferences in Oxford and their mixture of organic/regenerative principles at the Oxford Real Farming Conference (ORFC), to the more corporately aligned Oxford Farming Conference (OFC), this week has seen thousands of farmers from the middle ground of British agriculture pack the NEC at Birmingham for LAMMA Show and its focus on machinery and technology.
And while the fashion stylings of the different conferences is a thing to behold, from ORFCs sandal wearing roots, to OFCs brogues and tweed and onto LAMMAs gilets and dealer boots, the strands that bind all these farmers and participants are becoming closer than ever before, even if it is not always apparent on the surface.
It was striking in Oxford last week how the themes of the two events at times converged.
What once seen as the domain of the ORFC - regenerative, organic and agroecological - now find themselves front and centre of thinking at OFC as well.
It is a mirror of how those once peripheral themes have come to the fore in wider Government policy and are therefore much more in the mainstream.
Even at LAMMA, where tens of thousands of farmers who would probably never look at the Oxford conferences streamed through the doors, there was a thirst for knowledge around the debates and breakout sessions, with the debate around carbon drawing large crowds to the LAMMA Torques stand.
While the Oxford conferences might not appeal to a lot of these farmers in the middle ground, there is clearly a desire for information around these emerging themes.
The challenge for agriculture, and policymakers in particular, is how they get buy-in to those themes from different groups of farmers with ultimately different outlooks.
There is clearly a demand for knowledge and engagement from farmers, with carbon a great example, but what might energise an Oxford delegate could equally spook a LAMMA attendee.
It will require subtlety and tact to take all tribes on the journey.
