Just as we began to think some sectors of farming were looking potentially better; that we've had a good autumn after a disastrous summer and that as a result we might be able to drag ourselves out of the mire, it all goes pear shaped again.
DEFRA says it has overspent (probably on consultants fees employed to comment on what previous consultants had already told them) and would need to cut its budget by £270mill. Most of it, we are told, will come from its various agencies, set up to administer government schemes. But it would be a miracle if the effects didn't trickle down to farm level and reduce what was previously due to be paid to farmers.
In the next breath Billery Hen tells us that we, the farmers, must pay for sorting out infectious diseases - the kind that escape from his government laboratories or arrive in this country on infected meat which is not noticed or sent packing by government port inspectors. Furthermore, Billery tells us, it will be so much better for farmers to have responsibilty for this because, after all, it is farmers who benefit most from healthy animals. What kind of distorted logic is that?
Then, from Brussels, we have it confirmed that SFP's will be capped as widely predicted and that bigger farmers will lose some of their entitlement because they don't need the money. The likely loss to British farms will be some £56mill which is more than for any other country because we have the best structure in the EU. Again, it is illogical and sounds to me like the politics of envy.
It is time we had some new management at DEFRA and the Agricultural Office of the European Commission. I know of two people who are looking for work. One is Adam Applegarth, former Chief Executive of Northern Rock. The other is Steve McLaren formerly the manager of the England football team. Well, they couldn't do a worse job than the people we've got - could they?