The driving force behind the Royal Norfolk Show has left the role after a turbulent year - but he said the resilient institution is well-placed to recover from the economic turmoil of 2020.
Greg Smith, chief executive of show organisers the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association (RNAA), left this week after nine years in the position he described as the "best job in Norfolk".
But rather than enjoying the successful summer swansong he had hoped for last year, the 64-year-old had to announce the cancellation of both the 2020 and 2021 shows as the coronavirus pandemic took its painful toll on public events.
However, he said he is proud of the way his team had battled through those challenges and set itself on a path to recovery while carrying out the RNAA's key purpose of promoting the county's food, farming and countryside.
"2020 has been universally awful, but the organisation is certainly recoverable," said Mr Smith. "Things are very different now, but if we can keep to the plan we have got all the elements to give us a bright and successful future.
"After the initial shock of March, April and May, we were into crisis mode and and we managed to deal with that crisis really well as a business.
"What we have been doing since then is planning for the future. We have built a bridge to take ourselves from pre-Covid to post-Covid - let's call it 2022 - and the foundations from which we have built that bridge are pretty strong, the pier that we are going to place at the other end of the bridge is pretty strong, but it is how we get there that has the uncertainty to it, so we are doing everything we can to ensure that uncertainty is minimised."
The cancellation of the 2021 show was part of that de-risking strategy, said Mr Smith. And he stood by the early decision, which was taken in October before the approval of Covid-19 vaccines which have since heightened optimism of a return to normality.
"I absolutely stand by it and you can come and interview me in May when everyone is skipping around the fields and having a great time and I will still say we made the right decision," he said.
"We cannot just turn this thing on a sixpence and organise a Royal Norfolk Show in a few weeks, so it was the only sensible thing we could for the business. It would be great if we are proven wrong. It just means we are going to be able to recover even more strongly and faster, but we needed to take the uncertainty out of the organisation, we had to de-risk it.
"I would be very surprised if we are getting signals by the end of March that would say mass participation public events can go ahead again at the scale and size we would want to do to go back to normal."
In the meantime, Mr Smith said the association has learned important lessons which it could apply in 2021, such as the value of virtual online events and the possibilities of smaller, more specialist events replicating some aspects of the county show.
"I draw tonnes of positives from the last nine months, even though it has been the most testing time in my whole business career," he said. "Agricultural associations are there to further the development of food, farming and agriculture in their region. But there is nothing that says: 'You must run a show and that's it'. There is a whole heap of other things we can do."
Since joining the RNAA in 2012, Mr Smith has overseen a series of successful summer showcases which have hosted VIP royal visits and brought the Norfolk public closer to the county's farming and rural industries.
He said he was also proud of the progress in hosting educational events for schools, the creation of the Food and Farming Discovery Trust, and the foundation of the Yield business networking group for young rural professionals.
"I feel enormously fortunate and privileged to have had this opportunity," he said. "I think it is absolutely the best job in Norfolk, not least because it is so far-reaching and wide-ranging. I just love it.
"It has been all-consuming, but that is another reason why I should be pulling back and doing some other things.
"I have got bees to look after, I have got to become a better shepherd, I have got to become a better husband, father and grandfather. And I have got other interests in terms of business activity that I am involved with."
Before becoming chief executive of the RNAA in 2012, Mr Smith was managing director of market researchers Ipsos MORI until 2009, and was also a member of the Army Reserve from 1981 to 2016, becoming the most senior reservist in the British armed forces. He still chairs a national committee advising the government on its reserve forces, and is also chairman of Active Norfolk, the county's sports development partnership.
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