Christophe Hansen wants to "be a boots on the ground" European Commissioner for Agriculture.

Addressing the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) annual general meeting (AGM) on Thursday, he said: "I come from a farm myself, I was the youngest of seven children, so it was my oldest brother who took over the farm.

"Until the age of 20, when I studied abroad, I was on the farm everyday with my brother. I know a lot about Luxembourgish farming and Belgian farming [they had an outfarm in Belgium], but not so much about Irish farming.

"I wanted to see the Irish farming system in real terms, so visited a farm in Kildare.

"I should have been accompanied by the minister, but as you know..." he trailed off, in a subtle reference to the chaos that had unfolded in Leinster House on Wednesday.

Issues

He then listed the issues he discussed - typical of what two farmers would talk about - breeding strategies, animal welfare, hygiene, soil fertility optimisation, best use of slurry and soiled water. This is a man who really has a grasp of day-to-day issues for farmers.

They also had discussed paperwork.

"That's not why you choose your job, you choose your job to be out there in the fields, you want to be with your animals and in your barns. We have really gone the wrong way; many are responsible for that, I think it's something we really have to work on.

"It's really important that when we spend public money, it needs to be controlled, but the different layers that are coming down to you, it's not only from the European level, because a lot of that is from the national governments as well. It's really important that we all pull on the same string to make things easier," he said.

Receptive room

That really set the tone - you could see the room of over 100 farmers (including eight former IFA presidents, from Joe Healy all the way back to Donie Cashman) engage with this man, who was talking their own language.

It continued in that vein: “You have to give back respect to our farmers. Sometimes they are blamed for all the bad things that are happening in nature with biodiversity loss, but farmers are first victims of climate change."

He said he will present a vision “that will not be a 100-pager, it will be 10 to 15 pages - it’s not something legislative, but it will draw on a future that is sustainable not only from an environmental point of view, but also economically”.

This would require long-term policy stability, he added: “Nobody is going to invest in a farm if there is not predictability”, effectively calling out the changes that occur every seven years with successive CAP reforms.

Naturally, he was pushed by the IFA leaders and spokespeople on trigger issues.

Would he defend Irish farmers on Mercosur? He spoke of the need for equivalence of standards, giving the example of sugar produced using neonicotinoid products.

“If it is banned in the EU, I think it is hypocritical if we continue to import it” …. “we should scrap maximum inclusion levels” ... "I think we have to be bolder on standards”.

Generational renewal was raised by both Hansen - who highlighted a €3bn loan fund for young and women farmers - and IFA representatives.

When Macra president Elaine Houlihan highlighted that Ireland dedicates a relatively low percentage of CAP funds to young farmers and called on the Commissioner to guarantee a mandatory 4% of funds for young farmers in the next CAP, it may not have been met with total approval around the room.

On both Mercosur and the derogation, he pointed out that was beyond his competence, but seemed to be willing to accept the point made by farmers that Ireland’s production system is unique and justifies the derogation’s continuation.

Considering his refrain of the need for stability, perhaps he will see the 2023 cut as enough to be going on with and convey such a message to his colleague in DG Environment.

A strong start and a fresh perspective from Europe’s top bureaucrat, a man who can talk the farming talk. Will he be able to walk it, though?

More to follow