Twenty years on from the Liberty and Livelihood march in London, has anything actually changed for the perception of rural areas and the policies governing them?
With their rugby shirts and Farmers Guardian flags, it is intriguing to look back and see how the countryside took over the city for one day in September 2002.
The images snapshot a moment in time, but whether that day achieved real change is harder to picture. Stung by proposed changes to hunting laws and what some felt was a challenge to the rights and traditions of the countryside, it was incredible how many people turned out to show their loyalty to and love of rural areas.
Yet the aims, ambitions and zeal of those demonstrators jar somewhat with todays reality for many farmers and rural custodians, as the Farming Community Network (FCN) research on page four highlights. The FCN findings suggest that farmers, more than ever before, are coming into conflict with rural residents who are detached from the scale of modern food production and farming.
It even suggests that, over the past 20 years, the rural demographic has shifted and the expectation of many residents, who have often moved in from urban areas, has changed the make-up of market towns and villages and created an unease between them and their farming neighbours.
Many reading this, who have no doubt heard gripes from villagers at harvest time or other busy periods about farm machinery on the main roads, will no doubt agree.
And while it can feel that there is a disconnect at a societal level, there is no doubting the widening gap between the needs of agriculture and the politicians who oversee the policy and regulations which govern the industry; something the Liberty and Livelihood march specifically set out to address.
As Liberty and Livelihood organisers mull over whether such a march would happen today, it is clear that now, as then, the needs of farming and rural areas need reinforcing to the incumbents of Number 10 Downing Street and the seats of power in Wales and Scotland.
Maybe it is time to dust off the placards and banners once again.
