THIS year will be a transition year - one when the agricultural industry will have to come to terms with a new way of dealing with the CAP, and it will be the first year when farmers will not have to farm in order to receive payments. That's the message from the new president of the Country Land and Business Association, Devon landowner David Fursdon.

David, who is 52, and runs a family based farming and tourism business with his wife Catriona, will bring a unique perspective to the national agenda as his West Country roots are, he says, a critical part of his understanding of the issues that run through every strand of the CLA's work.

"The issues which matter on a national scale to the CLA are important at a parish, county and regional level here in the South West - where the whole of Britain is really represented in microcosm."

He says that there are major challenges in the year ahead, challenges on maintaining profitability in an un-subsidised industry which is being asked to compete on a world market, and challenges to relationships such as landlord and tenant. It will, he says, be a year when people will have to look closely at whether they want to - or should - continue in farming. He believes that those who can cope with the changes that lie ahead will be the future of the industry.

David is a former chairman and president of the CLA. He has chaired his parish meeting for 20 years and served on the Devon and Cornwall Committee of the National Trust. He has chaired Mid-Devon Tourist Association and the Wessex branch of the Historic Houses Association. He is involved with the NSPCC is chair of Governors of Blundell's School in Tiverton.