I’m writing this during that strange hinterland period between Christmas and new year. I couldn’t tell you the date, or even what day of the week it is.

I had a pork pie and half a chocolate orange for breakfast this morning, and if the average human body consists of 60% water, then I must currently be sitting at about 25% cheese.

See also: Oddball and under-the-radar kit launches at Agritechnica 2025

About the author

Will Evans

Farmers Weekly Opinion writer

Will Evans farms beef cattle and arable crops across 200ha near Wrexham in North Wales in partnership with his wife and parents.

It’s a confusing time for all. Spare a thought for one of my numerous daughters who, when helping get everything ready for the local Christmas tractor run, was instructed by the old man to “put some elbow grease into it” when polishing one of the bonnets.

She spent the next five minutes searching the workshop for an actual tin of elbow grease, causing much hilarity for the rest of us and firmly securing her place in Evans family legend.

If only she were old enough to drive; we could have sent her off to the local agricultural suppliers to pick up a few tins, along with some tartan paint and a pack of sky hooks while she was there.

Team Dairy

But back to that cheese I mentioned earlier, and my sterling efforts to support Team Dairy.

In perhaps the best thing to come out of Sweden since Abba, a groundbreaking study from Lund University has concluded that eating full-fat cheese and cream is linked to a lower risk of dementia.

I kid you not, when I saw this headline I was holding a cracker with a lovely piece of Shropshire Blue on it, and immediately went back to the fridge for more. You can’t be too careful with these things.

The research, published in the journal Neurology, suggests that people who regularly consumed high-fat dairy products such as cheddar, Brie, Gouda and full-fat cream were less likely to develop dementia over several decades of follow-up than those who ate none.

The study followed 27,760 adults in Sweden who were an average age of 58 when they joined the research. Participants were tracked for 25 years, during which time 3,208 people were diagnosed with dementia.

Researchers found that people who ate at least 50g of high-fat cheese a day – roughly two slices of cheddar – were less likely to develop dementia than those who ate less than 15g daily.

After accounting for factors such as age, sex, education and overall diet quality, higher cheese consumption was associated with a 13% lower risk of dementia.

Good measure

Despite the findings, experts (those killjoys again) have warned that lifestyle factors such as physical exercise, a balanced diet, not smoking, and moderating alcohol intake play a far greater role, and much more research needs to be done to prove conclusively that any individual food can help to protect people from dementia.

That all makes good sense, but still it’s a fascinating study. I suppose more than anything, it highlights once again the importance of eating proper food, and not ultra-processed rubbish concocted by large corporations.

Pertinently, though, this comes when it’s recently been reported that there are just 7,000 dairy farmers left in the UK.

I realise farm consolidation has been happening forever, and overall milk volume has increased markedly.

But I still find this figure to be deeply concerning – both in terms of the obvious effect on rural communities, and the cultural impact of the continued loss of smaller dairy farmers on regional cheese production.

Let’s hope this trend reverses soon.

At this time of year, more than any other, blessed are the cheesemakers. Now, where did I put those crackers?