WHEN FARMERS look back on 2015 for the most part it will be with little enthusiasm.

It is fitting that December has brought such awful weather, since it adds to a sense that this is a year farmers will be pleased to escape.

It brought a just about non-existent summer, saved by a good October; it brought low prices for all the major commodities, meaning that while the rest of the world enjoys a Christmas break farmers will be trying to balance their cash flows when what is coming in is not matching outgoings.

We all know the reasons - the weak euro against sterling, the loss of the Russian market, and generally weak global markets - but understanding a problem does not make it go away.

The year in Brussels has been about two big issues - the complexity of implementing CAP reform, particularly greening, and the crisis facing agriculture in general and the dairy sector in particular because of weak markets.

The first year of the new CAP has demonstrated just how over-technical the plan was. This saw the European Commission, for the first time, having to extend the submission date for basic payment applications - a decision that has made it difficult to meet payment targets in a year when farmers desperately need their CAP payments.

One positive is that the farm commissioner, Phil Hogan, has accepted that the system is over-complicated, and within the scope he has to change the rules is trying to do so.

Having someone in power willing to make changes is a positive step on a long journey. But because he cannot change the actual deal between farm ministers, the Commission and European parliament, the best he can do is seek to make a bad situation less bad.

When it comes to greening he is not even going to be able to do that before 2017, which is a big disappointment because what is in place has failed arable farmers and the environment.

Hogan has put the issue of CAP simplification on the agenda, but real delivery will take commitment and probably a fresh round of CAP reform.

September of 2015 will be remembered for the big protest in Brussels, organised by COPA as the umbrella organisation for European farm lobby groups.

This delivered a strong case for action, and the Commission responded with a €500 million aid package, largely for dairy farmers, which is now being paid out to farmers.

The UK opted not to match fund the money from Brussels, which has left farmers in Scotland worse off than their Irish counterparts, since the government in Dublin doubled the EU payment to make the payment now going out more worthwhile.

This was a predictable outcome, but what made this payment unique is that is is likely to be the last big emergency fund from Brussels. It only happened because dairy superlevy funds could be partly redirected. Those will no longer exist, and the Commission has made clear it wants reforms to dampen volatility, rather than future requests for emergency aid.

This reflects the reality that whatever Brussels can afford, such as the €500 million package in 2015, will be largely irrelevant to the scale of most major future problems.

As far as Phil Hogan, as commissioner, is concerned, this was the year when he really got into the job. His confidence and commitment has grown over the year, and while he was wrong to insist there was no crisis in the dairy sector, he has generally done a good job for farmers.

Unlike his predecessor, Dacian Ciolos, he understands farming - which would be expected of any Irish rural politician - and has an enthusiasm to deliver practical changes to the CAP.

He has demonstrated an impressive work ethic, even shrugging off the aftermath of a gall bladder operation to stick by a commitment to meet agricultural journalists for dinner. He is affable and that is a big help for farmers and farm lobby organisations that meet him to try to persuade him of the need to change the CAP.

The year ended with a deal in the World Trade Organisation to end export subsidies - something that would have been unthinkable a few years ago, but which for the EU is now little more than a gesture.

That is evidence of how much that CAP has changed, but 2015 will go down as a year when everything conspired against farmers, when the CAP could do little to help.