This is going to be a difficult one, because I don’t think it is possible for us all to agree on what is a fair allocation of the promised 'convergence' money.

But, before we get started, can we at least agree the ground rules? Can we disagree without being disagreeable, can we listen to each other and assume the best and not the worst? Because tone matters – treating each other with civility and dignity matters.

We only have to look at the toxic state of UK politics to see what happens when the other path is taken and I – and I’m pretty sure most farmers, be they hill or lowland – want nothing to do with it.

My family has a foot in both camps, because although I farm on arable land, my heart is in the highlands. In 1976, my father bought a farm called Cashlie, near the top of Glen Lyon, that is where we spent our summer holidays growing up, fishing and swimming in the lochs and river, walking in the mountains, and helping with the gathering, marking, shearing and dipping.

Dad was always keen on sheep. He had Suffolks for many years and we also had a flock of Blackface, latterly converted to North Country Cheviots, on Cashlie, and the lambs came down to finish at home. I go through them and draw them through the winter – tidying up a footrot is not my favourite job, I must admit, but marginally more preferable than sitting in an office.

Our autumn calving cows spend the summer at Cashlie, grazing out to 2500 feet before coming home in the autumn to calve. The economic and social connections between upland and lowland run deep for many of us.

So, although my business leans more towards Region 1 than Region 3, I do have a basic understanding at least of the working conditions, the hours and the hard work involved to be a livestock farmer on these mainly family run farms in the Highlands and more marginal land, and also the necessity of support if this way of life is to continue.

This is such a desperately difficult issue because many businesses, Region 3, 2 and 1 alike, are facing incredibly tough financial circumstances right now, and all can make a case for support. This is the crucial point.

Arable farms are being squeezed too and they also have limits to what they can produce. EFA rules mean 5% of their land is effectively taken out of production or has much added cost, and Region 1 in Scotland is paid €23 less than in England.

Like Sheep and beef farmers, arable farmers are looking at unsustainable prices for their crops right now. I spoke to someone today who was up in Aberdeenshire yesterday and there are a lot of oat crops still not cut, lying flat in the fields. Additionally, many farms – if not most – are comprised of a mixture of two or even three regions.

The NFUS proposal for dividing up the convergence pay out, which is a Pillar 1 top up, was based on Pillar 1 allocation since 2015, with the split across the three regions tweaked to give an enhanced uplift for Regions 2 and 3. To me this seemed fair, balanced, and importantly, straightforward to apply. Others will undoubtedly disagree and I respect that.

Of course, the Scottish Government and Fergus Ewing may well have a different view and the decision will be theirs to make at the end of the day, but it is worth noting that the proposal was unanimously agreed (with some caveats) by the NFUS board after a long and measured discussion, so it surely deserves serious consideration.

There is, perhaps, one other point to make, which is that we haven’t received the money yet and in these politically volatile times, it might be wise not to count this golden egg until the goose has laid it. The goose promising the egg might well be on the chopping block before he can lay it and there is no guarantee that any replacement goose will agree to lay the same egg.

We are not counting our chickens, either, when it comes to potatoes. Although we are almost halfway through potato harvest, the weather looks like it is starting to break. Slightly below average yields are not currently being reflected by a reasonable price and there is news from England of a lot of virus damaged crops and of some very poor yields on the continent.

With very little carry over from last year’s small crop, it is surely only a matter of time before the packers give in to the inevitable and pay a sensible amount. A price of £150 per tonne for Maris Piper in December is neither fair, nor sustainable.

Potatoes might not be our last harvest of the year as we are still picking blueberries, and hope to carry on until later this month, though the weather might bring things to a close sooner.

They have been a good crop, although they have an irritating tendency to drop on the ground before we can pick them. There is at least a tonne per acre lying in piles on the ground around the bushes, either brushed off by passing pickers or simply dropping of their own accord.

It would be good if all of our calves dropped as easily. We have a new Charolais bull which we put on to second calvers at the end of last year and we have had to pull most of them out. Considering the problems and challenges he has caused, and the difficulty of achieving a positive result, I think I’m going to rename him Brexit!