You can see from Phelim O’Neill’s interview with the European Agriculture Commissioner on page 7, the EU is tussling with many of the same issues we are on how to support farmers and the countryside. We need to cherrypick the best of its plans and use our increased flexibility to make our farming support schemes a better fit to the industry. We are all facing similar challenges, with consumers looking for more than just a secure food supply for the public funds. Environmental goals, increased carbon efficiency and making farming ‘fairer’ by supporting new and young businesses, are all high on the agenda.

Both our and the EU’s future policies will need to adhere to World Trade Organisation rules, so there is a lot we can learn from the EU’s approach. It is welcome that Commissioner Hogan is keen to focus payments on active farmers.

We need to watch how European bureaucrats negotiated supporting farming but not production. It is very difficult to pay someone to farm but not to produce; if Brussels manages this balancing act, we need to know.

The EU’s more decentralised approach, with different member states defining active farming, will hopefully offer a variety of options to inspire UK and Scottish policy. Remember, we are and will be full members until the day we actually leave the EU. So we need to use all channels open to us to gather information, to make our future plans the best they can be.

As we saw in the rural committee in Holyrood this week, the amount of politicking and grand-standing on the post Brexit setup does little to reassure farmers that we have a concrete plan.

Glyphosate rule gives parity with competitors

It’s welcome news that glyphosate has been given its reauthorisation for five years. Scottish farmers need the tools to compete in a global market where Roundup is still very much in use.

Banning the product would put our industry at a serious disadvantage, either putting prices up for the livestock sector, or reducing already thin arable margins. Neither of these options would help get Scotland ready for leaving the EU. The whole debacle is a timely reminder that politics is not just scientifically driven, but also affected by emotions. Many democratic decisions are made on how voters feel, as opposed to hard facts. We need to be aware of this when lobbying for sensible antibiotic rules and welfare rules.

Welcome more by-products for farmers

After breaking the story last week that the Diageo-owned Dailuaine barley dark grains plant was to close, it’s good news that the by-product will not be lost from the sector. The distilleries are in an area which in other parts of the country would not support the current level of cattle without by-product, so this news is in the right direction for locals.

The drinks giant could have decided to put all the by-product into anaerobic digester plants.

Nevertheless, farmers further afield will be disappointed as few of them will be able to take advantage of draff.