The last time the EU farm commissioner came from Luxembourg it was a very different farming world.

It was back in the early 1990s and the farm commissioner, Rene Steichen, was charged with implementing the recently agreed and radical MacSharry CAP reforms. Steichen was genial and effective, eventually leaving before the end of his term to allow the former Luxembourg prime minister, Jacques Santer, to replace the disgraced Jacques Delors as European Commission president.

That did Steichen no harm and today his technology business is the biggest on the Luxembourg stock exchange.

If all goes according to plan, the new farm commissioner will be Luxembourgeoise – the official French term for a Luxembourg citizen and one worth remembering for a quiz question. He is Christophe Hansen, aged 42, and a career politician with a qualification in risk management from a French university. He is a linguist and cousin of the Luxembourg agriculture minister. In one of his answers to MEPs, in advance of his confirmation, hearing his vision statement for farming is one we would all love to hear from a UK farm minister, but of that we can only dream.

In replies submitted to the European Parliament’s agriculture committee, he has a vision for the industry that is both positive and radical. To get into the post early next month, he, like all the other nominated commissioners, has to be approved by the European Parliament.

Hence the reason he has had to answer questions in writing, across his entire brief, from members of the parliament’s agriculture committee. His real test will be next Monday when he will face public questioning by the full committee before a vote.

That should be a formality but counting eggs while hatching continues is always a risky strategy. Hansen said he will focus on ‘turning the trend’ of generation renewal – getting young people into the industry – by making sure farming remains a ‘viable and attractive’ vocation. He acknowledged the concerns raised by farmers at protests, saying he recognised that they faced tough times and understandably had made their voices heard.

As to the core mission statement, he said his vision plan, to be delivered within 100 days of taking up the post, would be to find the conditions that ‘will allow farmers to continue their custodianship of the land with fulfilment and dignity that will allow them to live off their farms today, tomorrow and in 2040’.

These might be the polished words of a career politician and former political adviser, but these are sentiments we have not heard from any UK minister for a very long time.

That is not solely down to Brexit. A positive Westminster view of the importance of agriculture probably ended with the era of Tory ministers from rural areas, including John Gummer – who ironically had his finest hour, before BSE, when he opposed the MacSharry CAP reforms.

In his comments, Hansen showed his background in risk management, referring to the challenges from severe price fluctuations, climate change and a geopolitical situation seemingly getting worse by the day. Indeed, on that theme, the confirmation hearings next week will be eclipsed by concerns around the prospect of a Trump presidency in the United States.

The threat that could bring is the introduction of import tariffs in one of Europe’s biggest global markets for food. While the green message was part of the Hansen pitch for votes, it was a lot less apparent than from past commissioners. Yes, he wants to see green aspirations met and more organic food consumed, but he firmly sees his major task as tackling the generational change issue, with only 12% of farmers below 40.

Crucially, he sees this linked to the financial viability of agriculture rather than to the pursuit of green measures. That is a breath of fresh air in a debate that for too long has been stuck going down the same dead-end road. His pitch for the job is a reflection of how much the parliament has changed.

The greens have lost most of the political power and even influence. The centre-right Christian Democratic parties, which Hansen represents, are the biggest grouping and this should leave him well placed to be approved and then be radical.

The only shame is that it is radicalism of the type needed, but which will not benefit farmers here still stuck with same old Westminster dogma around green policies.