The sun may well have been shining over the 150th Turriff Show and the event had a real boost from the presence of the Queen but in the background there was real anger and frustration over lack of progress on the new CAP.
The North East MSPs Nanette Milne, Stewart Stevenson and Eilidh Whiteford were left in no doubt by NFU Scotland regional members that things were not going well.
The NFUS combinable committee chairman Andy Moir led the charge, pointing to his “extreme disappointment” over the lack of details on greening, especially over Environmental Focus Areas (EFAs).
“This is a ridiculous situation,” he said. “Harvest is well under way and we have no idea which cover crops we can use, how wide buffer strips need to be, which nitrogen-fixing crops can be grown and whether we can use pesticides or not.
“My members simply need to know now what they can and cannot do.”
Fellow regional member and farm business consultant Gerald Banks pushed the point further, saying he had heard vining peas and beans would not be included in the list of nitrogen-fixing crops eligible to be grown in EFAs.
“How then will Scottish producers be able to compete with growers south of the border, where it seems these crops will be allowed?” he asked angrily.
Graham Forbes, director of vining group East Coast Viners said: “If this is correct and England has an advantage it would be quite ludicrous and have serious effects on not just the growing side but on employment in the freezing factories in Dundee and Eyemouth.”
Challenged later in the day on the discontent over EFAs, the Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead said he had spoken to officials last week and stressed the need for clarity.
He intended to write soon to every farmer in the country.
A round of explanatory meetings would be held later in the year.
NFUS president Nigel Miller also updated the MSPs on the broiler chicken position and the lack of any real breakthrough in discussions with major processor 2 Sisters.
The plant at Letham in Angus was showing some growth on halal production but the main Coupar Angus plant remained on one-shift working.
“We have been told that Scottish chicken costs 14p per kilogram more to rear and process than in the south,” Mr Millar said. “Some of the difference comes from dearer wheat but mostly it comes from processing and the lack of a cutting plant.
“Scottish chicken has to be hauled south to be cut and then has to be hauled back again if it is to be sold here.
“We were hopeful that a cutting plant could be built adjacent to the Coupar Angus plant but that seems to have stalled,” he said.
The problem seemed to be that there was pressure from grant-funding bodies to have the plant on a site other than at Coupar Angus but 2 Sisters were not keen on this option.
“There could be decisions made in six to nine months which would affect the Coupar Angus plant. The numbers don’t look good,” he warned the MSPs.
Mr Millar also backed up concerns expressed by NFUS north-east livestock representative Jim Innes, Glenlivet.
Prime cattle were worth £200 to £300 less than they were last November. This was an “unsustainable drop,” said Mr Innes and he was looking to the Scottish Government-appointed Beef 2020 group to come up with constructive ways of utilising the £45 million allocated to the beef sector by Mr Lochhead.