Weeks of torrential rain. Battles with the supermarkets over low milk prices. The shadow of TB and foot and mouth. And of course, the Archers getting more sensational by the day. It's fair to say UK farmers have had a lot to deal with in recent years.
But they are not grumbling. In fact, according to the Office of National Statistics, farmers are among the most satisfied workers in the country. A new happiness index found that people working in the countryside – farming, fisheries and forestry – were happiest with their lot.
It comes as no surprise to Mycroft Perry, who since leaving his city job to return to his agricultural roots has dubbed himself the "happy farmer". "I can't put my finger on it," he tells me. "But when I get to the farm, I just feel better. Manual work means you are filled with endorphins. If you sit in an office all day, staring at a screen and shuffling papers, you can't see what you've done. There's not much money, and it's hard to get away, but every day I feel better about my life."
Devon sheep and cattle farmer David Camp, 30, admits the recent bad weather left him "tearing his hair out" but says it's not hard to see why farmers are so cheery. "It's a nice environment. The pay's not great, and it's hard work, but you do something different every day. It's also probably to do with the kind of people who go into agriculture. There are lots of minor hiccups so if you were the kind of person who makes every little problem a disaster it's not for you. But at this moment I'm sitting in my tractor in the beautiful sunshine looking over the field to the estuary and, yes, I'm pretty happy."
