In pre-Brexit times, the farming lobby across the UK would now be number crunching to work out the impact of the CAP reforms that have been finally agreed in Brussels.

More importantly, they would be working out how to use the flexibility it offers to ensure the best possible financial outcome for farmers. Other lobby groups would be seeking to make implementation as green or rural economy friendly as possible.

However, those days are gone and while farmers across 27 EU member states now have certainty about future support, it is still the stuff of political knockabout in Scotland and elsewhere in the UK.

The process of getting to a deal on CAP reform was a marathon exercise between farm ministers, the European Commission and European Parliament. This proved a lot slower than when reform deals were cut between Brussels and national ministers, with intense lobbying of both.

They then walked out to a misty early morning to proclaim the deal and no sooner was it struck, than the journey to the next reform began. This time it was slower, more bureaucratic and hammered out against a green background and budgetary problems.

However, a deal has been done – and in the words of one member of the European Parliament after the marathon voting session, it will allow 'planning security' for member states and more importantly for European farmers.

Despite the unwieldy nature of the process, the implementation deadline of December 31 will be met. By then, member states will have to finalise plans and there will be a one-year transition before the policy is fully in place from January, 2023.

This is far from impressive for speed, but it leaves farmers across the EU with more certainty about the future than UK farmers, where a deal should have been easier to achieve.

Predictably, the farming lobby in the EU thinks the policy is too 'green', while the green lobby is condemning it as a lost opportunity for radical change. That suggested it must have struck the right balance.

The key question now is whether we should have any regrets about no longer being part of the CAP. Where people stand on that is probably less about missing the CAP in its new form, than disappointment that the promises of a better support structure after Brexit have proved false.

In broad terms, the new CAP maintains direct payments, with a green blanket put over them to make change look more radical than it actually is. That certainty around direct payment until 2027 is a welcome comfort for farmers planning for the changes that lie ahead.

The devil will, inevitably, lie in the detail, but some of the thinking around the policy is not only acceptable, but positive. It remains a good in part curate's egg, but even the bad parts are not what they might have been from a farming perspective.

The European Commission line is that the new policy will be fairer and greener. That is probably true, but it will not be as radically fair or green as many would have wanted it to be.

The focus will soon move on to what the next round of CAP reform might achieve, now that some basic principles have been established.

At least 10% of direct payments in each member state must go to small and medium sized farm enterprises and at least 3% must go into schemes to tackle the demographic time-bomb of the average age of farmers being close to that at which people in other industries would be retiring.

As for the green aspects, a quarter of direct payments must be linked to environmental or other measures to tackle climate change. A big positive is that the compulsory crisis reserve, part of the CAP for many years, will be used more flexibly to tackle market problems affecting prices. If that works, this could prove a welcome boost for farmers.

The new CAP is not a 'no pain' option. It brings changes farmers might not have wanted and pressure on direct payments is a fact of life. It also reflects the green background of the EU's overarching Green Deal and Farm to Fork for agriculture.

However, it cements the link between farming and food production. Looking at what it offers, farmers now have a benchmark to decide whether post-Brexit support policies for the UK, when they are eventually agreed, will make escape from the CAP a good or bad outcome.