Launching a company that specialises in working with rural sector businesses in the wake of Brexit could be considered a foolish move. Wherever the leave vote eventually takes us, its first consequence is uncertainty and limbo as some politicians seek to reassure farmers and rural communities their businesses and way of life will be unaffected, while others regale on promises made before a single vote was cast. A whirlwind has ripped through the countryside and with no-one daring to trigger Article 50, it is impossible to predict when the dust will start to settle.
Many of the issues debated in the run up to the vote go right to the heart of the agricultural industry and rural communities. Will support for farmers remain after the CAP has gone and if so at what level? Will red tape finally be cut? Will farmers still get access to sufficient seasonal migrant labour? What will trade with the rest of the world look like, and will imports from countryside outside the EU risk undermining the world-leading welfare standards British farmers adhere to?
These and many, many more issues will need careful negotiation before any sense of what Brexit means for the countryside, and all those who live and work there, will be understood. Some experts are predicting that will take up to a decade.
But it cannot be ignored that rural dwellers voted to leave the EU at a higher rate than the national average. According to figures by the Office for National Statistics, 55 per cent of people in the countryside voted out compared to an average of 52 per cent across the UK as a whole. This figure rises further among farmers, with predictions as high as 60 per cent voted to leave.
Perhaps this is indicative of a section of society that feels let down by the EU. Yes, farming subsidies have helped to keep the industry operating but they are not without their problems. And coupled with unnecessary EU regulation which has served to make British farmers less competitive on the international stage, promoting further reliance on subsides, you can see why discontent has spread.
Whatever the reasons for the high rural leave vote, and despite the uncertainty that is currently undermining our political leaders, speaking to farmers and reading the agricultural press reveals a cautious sense of optimism about the future of the industry and the countryside. Brexit, many believe, presents an opportunity for farmers to have a greater say over how their businesses operate and, despite a bumpy period of adjustment, British farming can emerge stronger, more competitive and less reliant on subsidies in the future.
Country people are stoic people. In my lifetime they have lived through such devastating crises as Foot and Mouth and BSE, and many continue to live under the threat of bovine TB. They will need every inch of that resilience and pragmatism to get through the consequences of Brexit. And it is for that reason that the British countryside and all who contribute to making it the wonderful place so many of us know and love needs a voice now, perhaps more than ever before. Red Stag Media was established with precisely that in mind, to help businesses, organisations and individuals who make up the rural economy have a voice, so with that in mind, there is no better time for us to launch.