"Of course, you're the original subsidy junkie," said the brash young man to whom I had just been introduced.
He was about 35, although dressed to try to look younger in tight fitting jeans, loud check jacket and open-neck shirt with fashionably short hair and designer stubble.
"I'm not sure I'm the original," I replied, "but yes, I do believe our industry needs aid at present. Whether we'll need it in 10 or 20 years I can't say, but many farmers would be in trouble without single farm payments or something similar and food production would suffer just when consumers need it to increase."
My new acquaintance had heard enough of my outdated logic by this time and, dismissing my inadequate attempt to convince him, moved on in search of companions whose views he found more amenable. I never discovered if he was a genuine producer or just someone parroting current received wisdom and trying to score politically correct points.
But facts are facts and if he'd waited a little longer I could have explained that for several years now our SFP and environmental payments combined have exceeded our profits – sometimes by a little, sometimes by a lot.
He would probably have said we were poor farmers, pursuing the wrong mix of enterprises and our management and marketing must be faulty. Maybe, but if so those criticisms apply to many others as well as ourselves.
Of course there are some farmers who, by virtue of the superior quality of the land they farm, or their proximity to profitable markets, or the beneficial contracts they have managed to secure, or just because they are better at the job than we average operators, can produce viable profits without subsidies.
But I would counter that such aid was introduced – here and abroad – to stabilise farm incomes against extremes of weather and volatility of prices to encourage the great mass of farmers to continue producing through difficult times and maintain supplies for consumers. And although they profess to want to see an end to such payments – in due course – I believe Caroline Spelman and Jim Paice share that view and are a long way from being ready to pull the plug.
Further, they must be aware that politics is as much to blame for making aid necessary as any of the other phenomena farmers face. Poultry farmers are suffering financially from the importation of eggs produced in illegal cages. Pig farmers have had to put up with similar unfair competition for years because of the UK's unilateral ban on sow stalls. Restrictions on meat exports from Britain, introduced more than 20 years ago by some countries because of BSE, are still in force despite the disappearance of the disease, and so on.
Regulations are imposed on us that add costs and limit production, often whether there is any scientific justification or not. The use of innovative technology such as genetic modification that could cut unit cost of production and increase production is forbidden to satisfy a vociferous minority of voters across Europe. The playing field is far from level. And I haven't even mentioned the power of a handful of supermarkets whose questionable treatment of suppliers still goes largely unchallenged. Indeed some say they are the main beneficiaries of subsidies.
So, if my young critic would like ensure that free trade means free trade and arrange to fill in the potholes on our part of the pitch I'll be happy to go commando. Until then I feel I need protection.
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