Is the farming game a hard way to make a living? Is farming ‘a rough shed’? In farming, do farmers always have to travel a hard road to reach pastures of plenty? Do farmers have to be very good at farming to make a go of it? Compared with many other business and professional activities, the answer to these questions is unambiguously ‘yes’, for all the reasons we have explained to do with biology, technology and scientific development, the arrival of new knowledge, climatic variability, keen competition from other farmers from all around the world, the nature of consumer demand and agricultural commodity markets, and risk and uncertainty. Is the farming game fascinating? Intellectually challenging? Rewarding financially and professionally? Personally fulfilling? Again, the answer is unambiguously ‘yes’ to these questions, for all the same reasons.

Variously throughout this book we have referred to ‘rules’ of the farming game. These rules are the product of biological, economic and social phenomena that, taken together, determine the limits of what farmers can do and how they do it. Like in a sporting contest, the rules of farming are never unambiguous, nor are they static. The game is dynamic; so, too, must be the rules. Given below is a list of the most important concepts, ideas, principles, ways of thinking and rules to do with the farming game that, well understood, will benefit anyone having any form of business involvement in farming.