"Resilience" is a funny word. People generally recognise it when they see it, but experts often struggle to define it.
It is become increasingly important for farmers, appearing in initiatives aimed at building stronger, more adaptable rural communities.
I first heard the word several years ago in Europe, at a conference on rural entrepreneurship. In among all sorts of conversations, a knot of social scientists chatted about how "resilient" was beginning to replace "sustainable" in the jargon of the day. That triggered debate about the difference between the two.
Everyone has a slightly different interpretation. In my inexpert view, sustainable is about long-term survival and carries a sense of continuity or same-ness; resilience is about how a community copes with change, whether that's a sudden shock or slow creeping change.
It includes bouncing back to normal after something happens, but also adjusting to new circumstances and becoming something slightly different in the process.
Resilience is used to describe how well people are prepared for and recover after a storm or earthquake. Resilience also describes how rural communities cope with gradual change, in public expectations, market conditions, or the regulatory environment.
Farmers need to foresee these changes, make their contribution to them, and adapt their business as required.
These words matter because they reflect trends in thought and policy that will affect farmers. Not only do we have to understand the words, we have to be able to engage with those using them - usually government organisations and researchers whose work will influence decision-makers.
Whatever the latest trend word, resilience isn't new and, for farmers, the concept is familiar, even if the jargon isn't. For me, with road access cut off by last month's floods, it was the sight of a neighbour in his digger clearing slips that the council couldn't yet reach.
It's also the rural area that keeps its sense of community over time. And it's the farming business that thrives in an increasingly complex world of paperwork, rules and global market forces. Whatever it's called, that's something we can all appreciate and get behind.