Farming weather summit: How the NFU led the way

But orchestrating the high-profile agricultural drought summit was a complex and complicated mission which needed the skills, experience and contacts of multiple teams across the NFU.

In the first instance, the NFU needed a clear picture of the main challenges faced by farmers, the severity and the scope, and the different regional and sectoral nuances. Through the NFU's farmer-led board and forum structure along with its network of regional employees working at a grassroots level, the full and accurate impact of the weather was quickly identified.

Behind the scenes the NFU began talking to Forage Aid, supporting their charitable drive to provide emergency fodder to those in need, and setting up the NFU Fodder Bank.

Environment and water specialists began discussions with the Environment Agency to urge them to bring in flexible arrangements to allow farmers access to the water they needed.

And in the long term, the NFU continued its calls on the UK Government to put in place robust measures that will help deal with volatile circumstances, both now and after Brexit.

To make sure these calls to action were prioritised the NFU brought all the major players together in one agricultural drought summit at its offices in London, with the organisation's campaigning and external affairs teams securing attendance from the top level people who could make things happen.

Galvanising support and increasing the understanding of the issue among the general public was also key. The NFU media team sent out an operational note to its network of contacts at all the major national and regional broadcast, print and trade media in the UK.

The response was phenomenal with the summit attracting headlines and coverage from the BBC, ITV, Sky, Financial Times and the Daily Telegraph, to name just a few.

The coverage started with NFU President Minette Batters and the officeholder team on the BBC Today Program and television breakfast shows, continuing through lunchtime and evening bulletins, including the One Show, and finally making the late news as the story developed.

The full list is below: