While we can take some solace that Ireland is not experiencing the devastation parts of the US have encountered, some tillage farmers must feel very hard done by.

For two years in a row, some cereal farmers, particularly those in the west, look like losing a substantial part of the grain crop. As one farmer reports: “We are one week away from another disaster.”

While individual farmers in the east and south might still have crops to harvest, it is the straw lying on the ground which poses the highest risk category.

Outside of farming there are very few businesses in Ireland which invest so much and are so vulnerable to the vagaries of the weather. No chance of profit, a year’s investment in the cost of producing the lost crop, and another year of zero return on land is a huge price to pay for any business. And all this while enduring prices that have barely shifted in 30 years.

What can farmers learn from the crisis of 2016? It’s hard to say, but the Government’s rapid response to the floods in Donegal shows it has learned from its disorganised handling of the 2016 tillage crisis fund. Individual farmers could be in a similar situation this year.