Agriculture finally made it to the centre of the government's agenda this week, but sadly only in Boris Johnson's bizarre reference to Peppa Pig in a speech to bemused business leaders in the north of England.

The wait for a politician to grasp the real opportunities for economic growth from one of the UK's truly great indigenous industries goes on and the advice not to hold your breath for change holds true.

Both the UK and EU have a political vision that agriculture can deliver green solutions. However, there is a key difference. The UK government seems to see that as the only purpose for agriculture, taking its bigger role as a secure food supply for granted.

The EU is equally green and is making a fundamental error in trying to have 30% of output organic by 2030. That is fantasy, rather than reality, but it is at least evidence that it sees food as the output of farming.

More importantly, it is pumping vast sums into home and overseas promotion of EU food. This year that figure topped €100m and the budget will grow each year.

Its approach – 'Enjoy, it's from Europe' – celebrates the culinary heritage of 27 member states. Sadly, in the UK, that level of commitment seems to be lacking.

That governments at Westminster, or in the devolved regions will eventually find a formula to build on the plus points of leaving the CAP remain more about hope than expectation. We were told of the opportunities that would flow from farm supports better tailored to local conditions.

The goal was to create a progressive, profitable, globally competitive farming industry but instead agriculture has been drawn into the green-wash that policy has become. The vision of 'green' as a by-product of food production, has been flipped the other way around and that was never the vision back in 2016 at the time of the referendum.

This is a debate around political philosophies and broken promises, and there are no signs it will be resolved in a way farmers will ever deem satisfactory. As a result the jury is still very much out on whether farming will end up better off outside the CAP than if the UK had remained in it.

The shorter term issue dominating farm conversations, however, remains the rising price of fertiliser. This was the subject of the moment at a recent EU farm ministers' meeting, with reports from most member states that gains from rising cereal prices were being more than wiped out by higher cost for fertiliser.

Increasing fertiliser costs are linked to the rise in natural gas costs and across the board fertiliser prices have close to doubled in the past year.

The European Commission has been guilty of hand wringing over this issue. It acknowledged there was a problem and that there are no signs the market will correct itself in the near future. It has, however, been reluctant to acknowledge its part in the problem.

It is making the situation worse by maintaining anti-dumping duties on imported urea. This is to protect the global businesses that control the European fertiliser market.

It is estimated by the farm lobby group, COPA, that in an average year – and this is by no means an average year – that these duties add between €500m and €1bn to farmers' costs. All efforts to change this, not least when Phil Hogan was farm commissioner, have stalled and the duties remain, even though the market is as dysfunctional as it is now.

In April, before the current spike in fertiliser prices, COPA raised a formal complaint about the duties with DG Trade. This triggered an investigation into whether the fertiliser trade would suffer 'threat or injury' if the protectionist duties were suspended.

This is grinding through the wheels of bureaucracy in Brussels. But, the commission is as reluctant now as it has been in the past to concede its policy might be wrong.

However, it will have to respond to the complaint and as a key part of that process officials will be questioned by members of the European Parliament next week. This could prove interesting if the commission seeks to justify a policy that restricts trade at a heavy cost to every farmer in Europe.

This will be controversial, but once again the advice is not to hold your breath for change, given the big guns being mobilised to defend the status quo.