The independence referendum was back at the top of the NFU Scotland agenda on Monday evening in Perth, with opposing panels slogging it out.
The issue of EU membership, the currency that might or might not be used, and matters fiscal all had an airing but in reality there was nothing new.
The politicians on the panel Graeme Dey and Annabelle Ewing for the ‘Yes’ campaign and Claire Baker and Murdo Fraser for ‘Better Together’ no matter how devoted they are to their causes, are now well practised at feigning outrage, incredulity and derision as required, but they were on well-trodden ground.
The two farmers on the panel, Daye Tucker for ‘Yes’ and Willie Porter for ‘Rural Better Together’, had to wait a little for the audience to steer the debate back on to more agriculturally focused matters.
Perth-based livestock agent and farmer Stephen White said he was worried it would be more difficult to trade with the rest of the UK in the event of independence.
Mr Dey, MSP for Angus South, thought it unlikely that supermarkets would change their buying patterns; after all they already sourced from around the globe.
Daye Tucker, who farms at Carbeth, West Stirlingshire believed the strength of the Scotch Beef and Scotch Lamb labels would be seen as paramount, as would the undoubted health status of Scottish livestock.
Willie Porter, patriarch of a well-known Angus farming family, was far less certain.
“Prime cattle sold under the Scotch Beef label are currently attracting a premium of £120 per head over Irish cattle,” he said.
“In all honesty I cannot say that there will be much difference in the end product.
“I don’t think the supermarkets would be hurrying to pay the Scotch premium if we were an independent country. They would simply see Scotland as having the same status as Ireland.
Ireland had already been mentioned, with Graeme Dey pointing to the country having negotiated new CAP payments at twice the level to that which will apply in Scotland.
“We have had Owen Paterson (Defra Secretary of State) in front of the Holyrood Rural Affairs Committee and it is clear that he is committed to stopping Pillar One payments altogether,” he warned.
On EU issues and the surge in support for Ukip Murdo Fraser, Conservative MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, pointed to the fact that a higher percentage of Scots had voted for Ukip than in London.
This could be a problem for Alex Salmond as he sought to keep Scotland within the EU.
Far better, he suggested, to support David Cameron’s aspirations for a reformed EU.
Claire Baker, Labour MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, warned of the ‘Yes’ campaign’s over-reliance on oil.
She said that it was an unpredictable source of revenue.
Raising her eyes heavenward, Annabelle Ewing, SNP MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, asked: “Why can having so much oil possibly be seen as curse?”
As the chairman of the panel, Allan Bowie, pointed out, the debate continues.