The most immediate and most concerning aspect to most Irish farmers is what will happen to their payments post-2020. The document released on Wednesday suggests the new CAP will have to be more creative in how it divides and distributes payments to farmers.

“To target direct payments more effectively to ensure income to all farmers across the EU, without being exhaustive the following possibilities in order to ensure a fair and better targeted support of farmers’ income should be further explored.”

To support this, the document supports “a compulsory capping of direct payments … as a way of reducing the support for larger farms.”

Hogan’s strategy said there needs to be an “enhanced focus on a redistributive payment in order to be able to provide support in a targeted manner”. This is another strategy to support the small- to medium-sized farmers across Europe.

Similar to a proposal suggested last month, Commissioner Hogan wants to “ensure support is targeted to genuine farmers, focusing on those who are actively farming in order to earn their living”.

This raises the question of whether payments for part-time farmers will be cut.

How each country defines active farmers and part-time farmers is critical here. A part-time farmer in eastern Europe differs greatly to a part-time farmer in Ireland who is also generating an income from their farming activity.

The responsibilty on how to define the active farmer will rest with each country.