Has the NFU president's farm led by example when it comes to bad practice in the countryside?

The farm jointly owned by Meurig Raymond has twice been the site of incidents which have led to successful prosecutions

"It's simple," a civil servant at the government's environment department, Defra, once told me. "When we want to know what our position should be, we ask the NFU [National Farmers' Union]."

There are not many organisations in Britain - though this country is infested with lobbyists of every persuasion - with a grip on policy as tight as the National Farmers' Union. Vast conservation bodies (the National Trust, RSPB and Wildlife Trusts have a combined membership of some 6 million) are locked out, while the NFU seems to get everything it wants.