Last week, following a nationwide series of meetings in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture, the Irish Farmers Journal had a seminar for agribusiness on the details of the new CAP and how it was likely to affect the input suppliers to the sector, as well as the processors.

It was clear that some of those attending regarded the end outcome of the process of CAP reform as an exercise in limiting European agricultural output.

While that may in some areas be the eventual outcome, it is by no means inevitable, especially in Ireland.

We seem to have forgotten what a real production limiting reform policy actually looks like.

Who now talks of the 90 head limit on 10 and 22 month cattle? Or the set-aside policy in cereals which was part of the whole concept of eligible land? All of these were accompanied by a rigid quota lid on milk output.

It is worth making the point that it was the national response to the dairy quota that expanded the national suckler herd from 400,000 in the early 1980s to one million at peak.

Since then there has been a steady but gentle contraction as dairy cow numbers have expanded.

Any contraction that will take place under the new CAP will be environmentally induced rather than a policy drive to reduce surpluses, as was the case with the old production-limiting policies.

Several dairy processors are still open to new entrants, and while nitrates and banding will have effects (some serious) on individual farms, we will still be one of the very few countries where a nitrate derogation will continue, even if reduced from the 250kg level of recent years.

Scientific research

The scientific work delivered by Teagasc has demonstrated the environmental credibility of our grass-based model, while we are already seeing some improvements in water quality.

The development of the ICBF-driven DNA testing and beef value indices in our dairy beef crosses promise major efficiencies in our beef sector as its dependence on the dairy sector as the source of raw material grows.

While it is only a matter of time that methane reduction technology will become common place, at the same time there is now a national acknowledgement that the expansion of tillage output is a necessary national goal.

It is worth mentioning that our grain yields are among the highest in the world.

Coupled with this is the introduction of a really significant TAMS programme to aid investment in efficiency.

We are in a different place, not without its challenges, but with opportunities in a world needing more food that did not exist to the same extent before.