My appreciation for all things SFP and Brussels has taken another hammering today after reading through the terms of the young farmer support initiatives that will be implemented in the forthcoming round of SFP.

As a 30-year-old farmer, which in my own head is actually quite old, I would have thought I would be in line for some form of additional support in the next round of SFP. After all, 40 years of age seems to (illogically) be the cut-off for young and old in farming terms. No wonder we have an age profile issue.

I left college in 2008 and immediately registered as a farmer at the age of 24. This, it seems, was a bad idea. What I should have done is wait until I was the ripe age of 35 to put my name down, as it now seems that I will be six years set up at the point of scheme initiation and therefore will miss the cut-off.

Surely a young farmer is a young farmer based on actual age and not years in the industry? This makes no sense to me and punishes guys who sought to get involved early and build a business, totally at odds with the rhetoric coming from Europe.

I am now in a situation as a 30-year-old farmer in the industry for six years with three full-time employees, farming predominantly without Single Farm Payment. Most of my land is sharefarmed or leased. Now I am deemed too long in the industry to receive young farmer support that others 10 years my senior will be eligible for. Another cracking piece of work from Brussels.

SFP land tie up issues are another day's rant.

Ploughing

On a lighter note, I didn’t manage to get to the Ploughing which, had my wife been able to go, I would have enjoyed. It's an impressive event which has become the premier rural festival in Europe, but it seems less attractive than ever from a technical and professional point of view. Perhaps my view is the farming equivalent of a hipster's view on almost everything, but that’s not taking from the event as a fantastic rural show.