The Royal Welsh Show is a celebration of agriculture, a caution about threats to the environment and a symbol of hope and encouragement in times of despair, said the Archbishop of Wales this week.

In his address at the show's opening service at St Mary's Church, Builth Wells, Dr Barry Morgan told a packed congregation that the show's survival, particularly through the foot-and-mouth crisis, was a parable of transformation giving hope to all those going through bad times.

He said, "It stands as a beacon of encouragement for all who are up against it in life because in all of life's difficulties we need to hold on to this concept of new life arising out of the ashes of the old and that, no matter what we face, we can emerge as better human beings than before and taht God is there assisting us."

He also paid tribute to the role of farmers as "stewards of God's earth" in helping to manage natural resources. He said it was vital that the show highlighted global environmental issues and what could be done to address them.

He said, "We are given daily reminders about the fragility of life on this planet, but most of us carry on with our lives in the usual way whatever we are told about global warming ... People who care for the earth, and farmers really care for the earth, realise the inter-connectedness of creation and the need to tend it for the sake of future generations and indeed for the future of the planet itself."

He said the show fostered a sense of community - the coming together of a nation, both rural and urban. The farming way of life, he said, also had a lot to teach us about good pastoral care, about looking after the young, vulnerable and weak.

Dr Morgan praised the show's organisers for continuing to hold a Christian service of thanksgiving. Other institutions, he said, had withdrawn from Christian worship for fear of offending people of other faiths or because of suggestions that religion should be a private pursuit.

He said, "What this service proclaims, and thank goodness the Royal Welsh is not too embarrassed to proclaim it, is that all things have their origin in God and what we are doing in an act of worship is relating all things to that origin. God is the creator of the universe and nothing is separate from his creation and that it is right to give him thanks and praise for it."