With the CAP proposals now formally launched, Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has to somehow keep a whole tableful of plates spinning in the air.

Firstly, he is pushing for an increased CAP budget. He does have the support of the French minister, which is always a good start, and the Spanish and Portuguese ministers also seem open to the prospect of paying more.

The four ministers met in Spain last week, but getting all 27 member states on board will require a lot of diplomacy.

If the CAP budget is increased, the next job will be to influence the proposals that have come from the Commissioner’s office. In this, the Minister has two advantages – having an Irish Commissioner means that the CAP is far more attuned to the Irish priorities than the previous Ciolos reform proposals which wanted flat payments. The second is that he will have flexibility to condition the package to suit Irish needs.

This is where his problems start. We are still in the “phony war” stage of the CAP debate in Ireland. The IFA hasn’t commented on anything other than the maximisation of the budget, and that is understandable, but there is a big row brewing. It could centre around greening, or perhaps front-loading. The fault lines from the last CAP have not healed, and there is no doubt that the INHFA expects front-loading to be delivered this time around. Macra was quick out of the blocks to support the menu of options for young farmers, and we might see a push for the reintroduction of installation aid.

Both these initiatives will threaten higher payments in a far more meaningful way than imposing a limit of €60,000, which is now up to €100,000. Phil Hogan himself said this could be stretched out to €230,000 when the allowance regarding family wages is taken into consideration.

And as for defining an active farmer, now destined to be a genuine farmer – is it a person with welly burns on the legs? A person who can explain the beef grid to a townie?

No – the true definition of a genuine farmer is someone who buys the Irish Farmers Journal every Thursday, without exception.

But then, you all know that, loyal readers.

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