I was surprised to hear Department officials tell farmers they were disappointed with the low farmer turnout at a recent CAP consultation in Mitchelstown. They put this down to their own lack of advertising of the event, though The Dealer quietly thought farmers might have decided they had better places to be.

But Department staff said they would send a text to farmers to notify them of the next event and, sure enough, I've heard that numbers swelled. Though given farmer reaction to some of the CAP proposals, the Department might have preferred if some farmers had stayed at home after all.