There are no cattle or sheep at the fair

"Today is not for looking backwards," he said in his address.

"All our energy must now be put towards turning around farming fortunes."

The fair is the biggest agricultural event this year following the cancellation of the Royal Welsh Show in the summer.

Although restrictions mean there are no cattle and sheep at the show, horses have been introduced for the first time.

Trade stand numbers are also up by a quarter and a large supermarket export order for Welsh lamb has been announced as the industry seeks to recover from the devastation caused by the foot-and-mouth crisis.

"There's a great sense of buzz about the place that we haven't had for 12 months," said Peter Guthrie, Secretary of the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society

Nightmare ends

The end of Wales's foot-and-mouth nightmare came in sight at midnight on Monday when the rural affairs ministry Defra declared the country free of the disease.

It is the first time the countryside has moved from under the shadow of the mass slaughter and burnings of livestock since the end of February.

Bloods tests of sheep in the last seven areas in mid and south Wales have come back clear.

Thousands of sheep have been tested

It brings to a close one of the worst nine-month periods for businesses and people in the countryside in decades.

The first case was declared in Wales on 27 February and reached its peak at the end of March.

The last case was confirmed on 12 August and, since then, testing has been continuing to make sure the disease does not flare-up again.

Farmers still face restrictions when moving livestock in Wales, but the disease-free status will mean all livestock producers are under the same restrictions.

The disease-free declaration is the next step needed to enable exports of Welsh meat to resume.

'Difficult times'

The Welsh Assembly's Rural Affairs Minister, Carwyn Jones, said: "These past months have been difficult times."

"We can now look forward to returning to a degree of normality within the agriculture industry," said Mr Jones.

Rural Affairs Minister Carwyn Jones

"However, we must remain vigilant.

"We are not totally out of the woods and there remains a need to maintain a licensing system for the movement of susceptible livestock.

"The licensing arrangements will allow livestock to move between all areas of Wales as well as into Scotland and most of England.

"In addition, we are moving towards the resumption of meat exports from across the whole of Wales but that still needs final clearance from the European Commission."

Mr Jones also said the Defra decision justified the tight controls put in place as a result of the outbreak and showed that the no-vaccination policy for Welsh livestock was the right one.