You don’t have to like everything about the CAP to understand what the EU has done for Irish agriculture over the last 50 years

Admittedly, there are many reasons to fret over the shape of the modern Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), with its constant urge to reduce production at a time when demand for food continues to grow.

It’s frustrating to see mega-farms springing up all over the world while the EU does its best to curb Europe’s agricultural production, as it is unlikely to do anything about its stated goal of reducing global warming.

But the billions that have poured into Ireland’s coffers from the EU’s central funds over the last 50 years, combined with higher standards they have pushed through across civil society, far outweigh what the bogeyman of farmers is currently trying to convey .

I asked my dad what effect that had on the grain, milk and beef prices he was getting at the time, but over time it’s all a blur.

To be fair to him, I can barely remember my ATM card PIN, let alone numbers from half a century ago.

In fact, despite the overwhelming majority that voted yes in the referendum on joining what was then the EEC, there were many voices – both inside and outside the agricultural sector – that advocated the opposite during the election campaign.

Some of the most conservative elements in Irish society were so vehement that it was suggested that my uncle Hugh Scanlan be expelled from agricultural college for his pro-EEC views.

This was in response to an address given at Warrenstown College by local Labor Party TD for Meath, Jimmy Tully. Labor, along with Sinn Féin, opposed the EEC over the potential impact on our sovereignty, neutrality and currency.

My uncle just repeated the rehearsed lines that his father, Eugene, had been saying for many years. Grandfather Scanlan had always been a big Europhile, as he fell in love with the continents while hiking in Germany and Austria in the 1930s.

He revered the Teutonic Order, the modernity and the range of possibilities that Europe represented.

He was also duly appalled at the hunger and deprivation he experienced as he traveled through Holland, Belgium and Germany in the years immediately after World War II.

He returned home to his farm in North Co Dublin determined to make every square meter productive (note metric rather than imperial feet).

Trees were cleared, drains dug, and fences erected at the very edges of fields that now regularly impale less vigilant motorists on the roads around this country.

It was this desire to ensure Ireland fulfilled its potential to feed Europe that led him to devote much of his time to volunteering for various IFA committees and European delegations. He never tired of explaining the benefits of EEC membership to families or farmers willing to listen.

But he had serious competition in the form of high-profile voices in the agricultural sector, who campaigned strongly for Ireland to remain outside the EEC.