Summer is usually a quiet time for farm protests. Farmers are too busy on the land. But this summer has been different and last week there were flashpoints at different protests organised by the IFA and the Beef Plan movement. There is a toxic mood within farming right now which is dividing rather than uniting.

Farmers have been protesting ever since the infamous march on Dublin in 1966. And while there has always been a certain air of hostility and genuine anger at the core of these pickets and protests, there was never much by way of menace. But that too is changing judging by some of the more erratic posts by individuals on social media in recent times.

The main objective of any peaceful protest is to garner publicity for the cause and give vent to fury

The recent sight of the car of the Minister for Agriculture being surrounded by fed-up beef producers was another small example of the sort of despair which is gripping the drystock sector.

The main objective of any peaceful protest is to garner publicity for the cause and give vent to fury. Sometimes they effect change but more times not – and dare I say it – when it comes to farm protests in particular nothing ever changes. I’ve lost count of the amount of protests and pickets I’ve covered over the past 20 years. John Dillons tractorcade and the 2000 beef blockade stand out as two of the bigger ones. But in reality you would have to ask what did they and all the other big and loud street protests, blockades, stunts and pickets ever achieve in the long run?

There is no question but that hard-pressed beef farmers in particular deserve sympathy for their current desperate plight

It might have worked for Rickard Deasy but in the five decades since, it is as if every protest is an attempt to recreate his relative landmark achievement. There is no question but that hard-pressed beef farmers in particular deserve sympathy for their current desperate plight. But even if the Mercosur trade deal was called off tomorrow and factories did the unthinkable and raised the price of beef and Michael Creed found another €100m, none of that will make an ounce of difference if there is a no-deal Brexit. And if that happens, farmers cannot lay any blame for that catastrophe at the feet of beef barons, the Minister, the EU Commissioner nor the dairy sector.

Angry farmers represented by various farm groups under numerous leaderships have spent generations fighting factories and retailers for a better price

It was Mercosur that put the tin hat on things for suckler farmers who feel sold out by the EU with Commissioner Phil Hogan and by association Fine Gael too. But here’s the irony. Long before the Is were dotted and Ts crossed on Mercosur, Hogan has spent much of his first term in Brussels working on unfair trading practice (UTP) legislation which has the ambition of holding processors and retailers to account allowing farmers get a fairer return for their work and produce.

Angry farmers represented by various farm groups under numerous leaderships have spent generations fighting factories and retailers for a better price but have had little by way of legislation to support them. Now as they angrily deplore Phil Hogan over Mercosur, if his UTP legislation works, it may finally do what the protests have never achieved, to tackle the exploitation of small and medium-sized food producers by the all powerful, always profitable factories and multiples.

Where is the passion gone?

For the first time ever, the Premier League is back and I am not bothered. It’s hard to find the love for it. The money, egotism and disconnect from reality has reached an all-time high. He’s not the only one but the antics surrounding Gareth Bale and his wage demands sums up professional soccer in the modern era. When a world-class player from Europe would prefer to be playing football in the Chinese league, you know it’s all gone wrong.