Last month, five young people working in farming, food and nature lined up on plush green seats in one of Parliament’s most cavernous committee rooms. For an hour, the twenty-somethings answered questions from MPs, members of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Farming, which FFCC supports as secretariat.

Describing their hopes for the future of agriculture, the five speakers – Abbie, James, Melissa, Alexandra and Joe – didn’t agree on everything. They had different ideas about where politicians should direct attention and resources. Some of them came from farming families; others were new to country life. Some were running their own enterprises; others were working for vast farming operations, advising about wildlife, or gaining experience in allied industries. But they all exuded excitement about the work of growing food and managing the land in decades to come.

It seems as if everyone is talking about the future right now. In the world of politics, Defra is developing a 25-year roadmap to guide the government’s policy. It has also commissioned Baroness Batters to lead a review of profitability in farming, which will recommend solutions for the short-, medium- and long-term. On the other side of SW1, Ed Miliband’s department is drawing up a plan for how the whole agri-food sector can cut emissions by 2050, with agriculture doing much of the heavy-lifting.

Academics are looking ahead. Research projects are coming up with scenarios for how the sector might look in a world transformed by climate change, and using serious games to play out how the UK’s food system will react to shocks such as epidemics and cyberattacks. Business is writing its own version of what’s to come. Earlier this year, Tesco published its ‘Greenprint’, calling for government to provide ‘clarity’ and ‘long-term vision’. As part of a rebrand, Britain’s biggest grain buyer and major input supplier, Frontier, plastered across its website a mission statement: ‘Creating a better future for agriculture.’

Amid all this talk, people across farming are questioning their place in a changing industry. During the inheritance tax protests, the sight of toy tractors rolling down Whitehall was meant to convey that many family businesses won’t last until the next generation. The latest round of the NFU’s annual survey found that farmers’ confidence had dropped from the previous year – itself a 15-year low – and rising numbers were putting off investment. While plenty are keeping their heads down and trudging on, the prevailing sentiment is uncertainty.

This suggests there’s something off with how politicians, big business, campaigners and even farming leaders are discussing the future. It can all feel a little abstract, cold, impersonal. We sort of know how agriculture will have to change in the years ahead. It’s going to have to adopt new technologies, regenerate natural resources, and become much more resilient. But it’s much less clear what that industry is going to feel like to the people inside it. Who’s going to be growing food? What kind of jobs will they do? What kind of businesses will they work for and run?

Take those young farmers talking in Parliament. Looking past the small differences, they essentially want the same things many of us prize: decently paid, meaningful jobs; affordable housing and good quality local infrastructure; strong communities that make them feel part of something bigger; the resources and training that give them choices to shape their lives; and a sense that political and business leaders are listening to their priorities. In many ways, those who enjoy milking cows, testing soil, and making homes for wildlife are no different from the peers.

Those are the basics that a thriving farming sector should be able to deliver. They are crucial to keeping existing farmers and growers optimistic and engaged, and attracting ambitious new talent. Those basics are what will keep farming at the heart of an inclusive, dynamic rural economy.

Anyone writing a credible roadmap for farming’s future should ask themselves these simple questions. Have you spent the time to really ask the people who will do this work what they want? And how does this plan help those people and those around them live better lives?