On 6 March, Scottish Environment LINK held a Holyrood Parliamentary Reception, bringing people together around the Farm for Scotland’s Future campaign.
We started with two short videos from two very different farmers, both working with nature to the benefit of their businesses. First Johnnie Balfour, who farms in Fife, talks about doing more for nature and climate by working with nature, by, for example, reducing his inputs.
Then Padruig Morrison, in the Outer Hebrides, who is changing the way he is using the croft to manage for biodiversity and climate. He suggests how more crofters can be supported to use their land for food production and biodiversity and climate.
They both highlight problems with the current system of farm funding. You’ll see, just in the background, how different their farming environments are. Clearly they both need flexibility to do things at a time of year that suits their local area, but they also both talk about the size of farm units and how having a system that rewards farmers and crofters for results (or outcomes) will achieve more for nature and carbon.
These two short clips demonstrate the need for change in our current system of farm support in Scotland. Here we have a farmer and a crofter who are producing food but who also want to deliver for nature and climate. And it makes complete sense for them to do so.
If we care about food producers, and if we care about food security, then we need to care about our environment. We all rely on farming, and farming relies on nature. The food we grow depends on healthy soils; our crops need pollinators; and our farmers need a stable climate and resilience to extreme weather. Anybody who presents producing food and protecting our environment as competing aims is being extraordinarily short sighted.
LINK’s chief officer Deborah Long at the Farm for Scotland’s Future reception
But we do need to change how we farm in order to be more sustainable. As well as producing food, farmers and crofters manage three-quarters of Scotland’s land. However, many current agricultural practices cause pollution, severely harm our wildlife, and make the sector Scotland’s second-largest source of climate emissions. At the same time, Scotland spends more than £650 million a year supporting farmers. The opportunity in front of us right now is to use that money to support farmers and crofters to move towards nature-friendly and climate-friendly food production.
We deliberately started with those two clips to show that this approach is not just feasible, it is vital. The Farm for Scotland’s Future campaign is working with more than 40 organisations and farming groups who all want to see change so that farmers are able to build and maintain viable businesses in the future: ones that are resilient to climate change, ones that help put back species and habitats so our ecosystems are more resilient to ongoing change and ones that produce healthy food and products, that support rural communities and will form viable business legacies for future generations.
The campaign is looking at how agriculture support is distributed today, what it ‘buys’ today and what it could ’buy’ in the future. It is looking at what opportunities the current Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill is opening up for us, whether we are farmers or rural businesses, or members of Scottish society. We are all working together to call for a better farming support system that supports nature restoration and tackles climate change while supporting all farmers and crofters in the transition to sustainable agriculture.
You can find out more about the intricacies of the advocacy work we are doing in partnership with farmers and crofters to make the most of this opportunity we have in the Agriculture Bill here.
Meanwhile, in another short video, Vicki Swales, from RSPB Scotland, talks about the importance of nature in farming and the benefits it brings. And what the Scottish Government and we, as consumers, can do to support farmers to take action for nature and climate.
The Farm for Scotland’s Future campaign has 3 simple asks:
Replace the decades-old farm funding system with one that works for nature, climate and people.
Ensure at least three quarters of public spending on farming supports methods that restore nature and tackle climate change.
Support all farmers and crofters in the transition to sustainable farming.
Guests at the Farm for Scotland’s Future reception
For the current financial year 2023-24, only about five percent of the Scottish government’s £650 million farm support budget is being spent on dedicated support for farmers to deliver targeted environmental benefits like restoring habitats for priority species, improving water quality and mitigating climate change. In contrast, for the current financial year more than two thirds of the farming spend is being paid to farmers as ‘direct payments’ based on how much and what type of land they farm, with very few environmental conditions attached. These payments disproportionately benefit the largest landowners and do very little to support sustainable farming.
Is there a better way of doing this? Of course there is. By replacing the current old system, a new system could and should pay farmers, crofters and land managers to farm in ways that are sustainable.
In February, the First Minister has announced that, after the passage of the Agriculture Bill, at least 70% of funding will be paid across the bottom two tiers of the new system – effectively continuing the current approach where most money is spent on direct payments. In effect this means the new system is likely to direct only a little more of the farming budget to helping restore nature and tackle climate change – a small step forward, but not nearly far enough.
A business as usual approach will not put farming on the path to sustainability. It will leave those farmers and crofters who are working in ways that help nature and the climate without enough support, and it risks leaving our farming sector out of step with the growing consumer demand for environmentally friendly food.
As we heard from Padruig, smaller Scottish farms and crofts often support more biodiversity and rely less on chemical inputs than larger farms, yet they lose out under the current funding system. We’re calling for a higher rate of base level direct payments for the first hectares a farmer or crofter claims, making the system fairer and supporting nature-friendly methods.
We’re also calling on the government to set itself ambitious targets for increasing organic farming and helping farmers reduce the use of pesticides and synthetic fertilisers.
It’s important we keep talking about all this. With the rise in misinformation and the framing of environmental issues as elitist or exaggerated, the more we talk to colleagues, friends, neighbours about what is actually happening with nature, what is really happening with carbon and climate, the better. The possible futures in front of us that models are describing should both scare and re invigorate us. Now is the time to take on the false binary approaches of some on social media, illustrate what is happening but also what solutions of hope look like. Remember crofters like Padruig and farmers like Johnnie who are doing what they can but clearly want to do more and want to inspire others to accompany them on the journey. These are just two voices – there are many more out there. Just as there are many more people in Scotland, and the rest of the world, who want to see change. Sometimes we just don’t hear their voices loudly enough.
We can none of us do this alone. It is only through mature and far sighted conversations, embedded in mutually beneficial partnerships that we will see the swing towards the resilient and enjoyable future that we all need and that future generations, quite rightly, expect to have.
First Minister Humza Yousaf announced details today of how farm funding will be distributed under the Scottish government’s new system, revealing an approach that campaigners say won’t do enough to help farmers and crofters to produce food sustainably.
The First Minister said at the National Farmers Union of Scotland conference today that his government will distribute at least 70% of its farm funding across the first two ‘tiers’ of the new system. In effect this means the new system is likely to direct only a little more of the farming budget to helping farmers and crofters restore nature and tackle climate change than the current system does.
Pete Ritchie, convenor of Scottish Environment LINK’s Food and Farming Group, reacted to the First Minister’s announcement:
“Scotland’s farmers and crofters are vital to our future. As well as producing food, they have a key role to play in helping to restore nature and tackle climate change. If we’re to meet these challenges, we need to see strong leadership from the Scottish Government. Today’s announcement is a small step in the right direction, but it doesn’t go nearly far enough.
“The Scottish Government’s own analysis shows that the way we currently support farmers is unfair, and doesn’t help those who want to tackle climate change or protect nature.[1] The Scottish Government had promised to change this system, and today’s announcement falls short of the action required. Government must be bolder in the face of the nature and climate emergency and commit to spending more over time on helping farmers farm sustainably, and less on per hectare direct payments.
“Putting more of the budget into environmental measures and into support for the sector like innovation, advice, and co-operation is the best way to ensure a resilient and sustainable farming sector.
“A business as usual approach will not put farming on the path to sustainability. It will leave those farmers and crofters who are working in ways that help nature and the climate without enough support, and it risks leaving our farming sector out of step with the growing consumer demand for environmentally friendly food.
“With the right government support in place, Scottish farming can put food on our tables while restoring nature and tackling climate change. Today’s decision moves us just a little closer to that goal, but it’s not enough to allow the Scottish Government achieve its own ambition to deliver sustainable agriculture.”
Environmental campaigners gathered outside the Scottish parliament today to call on the Scottish government to fund farmers and crofters to produce food in ways that help restore nature and tackle climate change.
The Farm for Scotland’s Future campaign is calling for at least three quarters of public spending on agriculture to support nature and climate friendly farming methods. The campaign is backed by more than 40 organisations including the RSPB, the Soil Association, the Woodland Trust, Buglife and Action to Protect Rural Scotland.
At present, the majority of funding is paid to farmers based on how much and what type of land they farm – a system that disproportionately benefits large landowners and does little to address farming’s environmental impact.
The Scottish government has published an Agriculture and Rural Communities Bill and is expected to make an announcement next month on how it plans to distribute money under the new farm funding system that the bill will put in place.
Deborah Long, chief officer of Scottish Environment LINK which coordinates the Farm for Scotland’s Future campaign, said:
“Farmers and crofters have a key role to play in restoring Scotland’s amazing nature and helping to tackle the climate crisis while producing food. It’s in everyone’s interest that farmers and crofters are enabled to help meet these huge challenges, and it’s essential that they get the support they need to do this vital work.”
Campaigners have slammed cuts to funding for nature and climate friendly farming in the Scottish government’s budget announced this week.
The Farm for Scotland’s Future campaign, a coalition of environmental charities and farmers’ groups, has said the £6.2 million, or 17%, cut to Scotland’s Agri-Environment Climate Scheme (AECS) makes a mockery of the Scottish government’s much vaunted ambition for Scotland to become a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture.
For the current financial year 2023-24, only about five percent of the Scottish government’s £650 million farm support budget is being spent on dedicated support for farmers to deliver targeted environmental benefits like restoring habitats for priority species, improving water quality and mitigating climate change. Cutting £6.2 million from AECS, which was already underfunded, will make it even harder for farmers to get support to take action for nature and the climate, say campaigners.
In contrast, for the current financial year more than two thirds of the farming spend is being paid to farmers as ‘direct payments’ based on how much and what type of land they farm, with very few environmental conditions attached. These payments disproportionately benefit the largest landowners and do very little to support sustainable farming.
The Farm for Scotland’s Future campaign, which is coordinated by Scottish Environment LINK, has called for greater capping or limits on direct payments, and says that if the Scottish government had used this mechanism more effectively it would have been able to fund the continuation of AECS at current or higher levels.
Farming has major implications for the environment. Current farming methods make it Scotland’s second biggest source of climate emissions, and a significant driver of the depletion of nature.
The Scottish government’s Agriculture and Rural Communities Bill, now before the Scottish parliament, will create the powers to change Scotland’s farm funding system. The Farm for Scotland’s Future campaign is calling for at least three quarters of public spending on farming to support methods that restore nature and tackle climate change while producing food.
Pete Ritchie, Director of Nourish Scotland and Convener of the Scottish Environment LINK Food and Farming Group, said:
‘With the right support in place, farmers and crofters can help restore nature and reduce emissions which, ultimately, underpins the sustainability of their businesses and of food production.
‘We understand the difficult financial outlook faced by the Scottish government. We also recognise that this budget has maintained funding for NatureScot and other environmental agencies, which is welcome. But cutting those parts of the farm budget that help address nature loss and climate change makes no sense to us. It makes achieving the government’s own vision for sustainable and regenerative agriculture that much harder in the longer term.’
The Scottish Government should be required to take independent advice ahead of making spending decisions on agriculture, environmental campaigners have said.
The Agriculture and Rural Communities Bill will establish a new system of payments to farmers and crofters. The Scottish Government says that helping farmers reduce their climate emissions and restore nature is a key objective.
But environmental campaigners are concerned that the new system will not do enough to encourage changes in food production in time to meet crucial climate and nature targets.
In evidence submitted to a Scottish Parliament committee, the coalition Scottish Environment LINK is calling on Ministers to be required to take independent advice before setting their five year rural support plan.
The duty to seek advice would echo a similar duty in the Climate Change Act, which sees climate policy subject to independent oversight from the Climate Change Committee.
Currently, agriculture is the second highest source of carbon emissions in Scotland, having risen in recent years. Some farming practices are also major factors in declines in wildlife and biodiversity.
The Farm for Scotland’s Future campaign, coordinated by Scottish Environment LINK, says that at least three quarters of public spending on farming should support methods that restore nature and tackle climate change.
The campaign group is also calling for the Bill to include the adoption of legal targets to reduce agriculture’s environmental impact, through, for example, reduced pesticide use.
Pete Ritchie, Director of Nourish Scotland and Convener of the Scottish Environment LINK Food and Farming Group, said:
“Farming is vital to Scotland’s future, and we must support farmers and crofters to become more sustainable.
“The introduction of new Scottish agriculture legislation is a once in a lifetime opportunity to create a better system.
“Government policy should be evidence-based and informed by the best independent advice.
“We know that agriculture will be central to reducing climate emissions and protecting nature – it is essential that the new farm funding system measures up to the changes we need.”
The Scottish Government must take a much more ambitious approach to reforming agriculture policy and funding if it is to meet its own climate and nature targets, campaigners have said.
Ministers have indicated that the new system of farm funding will mimic the current decades-old system that sees large landowners disproportionately benefit from government payments.
But in evidence submitted to a parliamentary committee, leading environmental campaigners have said that the current funding system is ‘unfair and inefficient’ and that the government should instead direct money to support food being produced in ways that are better for nature and the climate.
The financial memorandum to the Agriculture and Rural Communities Bill, published in September, indicates that the Scottish Government intends to distribute the majority of its farm funding in a way that effectively maintains the status quo.
The Farm for Scotland’s Future campaign, a coalition of environment charities and farmers’ groups, says that broadly replicating the current distribution of funds will leave little money left to help farmers take targeted action for the environment, or to support them in the transition to sustainable farming.
“Under this plan, most of the money would go to area-based ‘direct payments’, which require farmers to meet very few environmental conditions and which result in those with the most land receiving most money, or to payments with only light-touch environmental requirements. This will not drive the transformation in farming that we need.”
The development of new Scottish agriculture legislation has been seen by many as an opportunity to radically change the way farming is funded, in order to help restore biodiversity, tackle climate change and support smaller farms that lose out under the current system.
For the financial year 2023-24, more than two thirds of the Scottish government’s £650 million farm support budget is being paid to farmers based on how much and what type of land they farm, with very few conditions attached as to how they manage the land.
In contrast, about five percent of the budget is being spent on supporting farmers to deliver targeted environmental benefits through dedicated Agri-Environment support payments.
Figures published in June show that climate emissions from agriculture have risen, making it the second largest source of Scottish emissions. At the end of last year, the Climate Change Committee reported that detail on a low-carbon Scottish agriculture policy was ‘urgently needed’. Current farming methods also make farming a major cause of biodiversity loss.
The Scottish government has ambitious, legally binding targets to reduce Scotland’s climate emissions. Nature restoration targets are due to be set in the Natural Environment Bill, expected next year.
The Farm for Scotland’s Future campaign is calling for the new policy and funding system to reduce the proportion of the budget spent on payments per area with few environmental requirements, and by 2026 for at least three quarters of public spending on farming to support methods that restore nature and tackle climate change while producing food.
Deborah Long added:
“We know that across Scotland many farmers and crofters are working hard to help nature and reduce climate emissions. But far too often they’re doing so despite the current funding system, which offers them very little support or incentive to farm sustainably.
“The huge challenges of climate change and nature loss affect us all. Farming has a major role to play in tackling these crises, and it’s in all our interests that farmers and crofters should be supported to do this vital work. Public spending on farming should reflect these priorities.
“Paying farmers and crofters based on how much land they farm, with few environmental requirements, gives us extremely poor value for money. The new Agriculture and Rural Communities Bill is the opportunity to radically change the farm funding system so that it helps all farmers and crofters to produce food in ways that restore nature and tackle climate change.
“That’s why the plan to maintain the status quo in terms of where the money goes is so disappointing. We urge the Scottish government to reconsider, and not to waste this opportunity to make farming work for nature, climate and people.”
Take action! Ask the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Mairi Gougeon, to ensure that at least three quarters of public spending on farming supports farmers and crofters to produce food in ways that restore nature and tackle climate change.
Scroll down to find key points to make, and where to send your email.
We need to help farmers and crofters to reduce climate emissions and restore Scotland’s nature, as well as producing food. That means replacing our decades-old farm funding system with one that works for nature, climate and people.
But papers published by the Scottish government indicate that it intends to continue spending most of its farming budget on ‘direct payments’ to farmers based on how much land they farm, with very few environmental requirements – a system that disproportionately benefits a few large landowners and does very little to support sustainable farming.
There’s still time to make the new system work. The more of us write to Mairi Gougeon calling for change, the greater chance we have of a farm funding system that helps all farmers and crofters produce food sustainably.
Our chance to change Scottish farming
The Agriculture and Rural Communities Bill, currently being scrutinised by MSPs, is Scotland’s chance to make sure farmers and crofters get the support they need to farm sustainably. The bill contains some positive measures, including for rural support plans to be published every five years so that farmers and crofters know what they need to do to qualify for funding. It’s also encouraging that the bill refers to restoring nature and tackling climate change as being among the objectives of agricultural policy.
But the biggest test will be in how the money is distributed. The financial memorandum published alongside the bill suggests that the new funding system will mimic the current system, in which the majority of the Scottish government’s farming support budget goes to ‘direct payments’ to farmers based on the area of land they farm, with very few conditions attached as to how they manage that land.
The current funding system is massively weighted to a minority of large landowners, while smaller farms and crofts lose out. Since there are few environmental requirements, ‘direct payments’ are also a very poor use of public money, as they don’t achieve public policy objectives such as nature restoration or climate change mitigation.
For the financial year 2023-24, more than two thirds of the Scottish government’s £650 million farm support budget is being paid to farmers based on how much and what type of land they farm, with few conditions attached. In contrast, about 5 percent is going to dedicated ‘Agri-Environment’ payments, which help farmers to take targeted environmental action, like restoring habitats for farmland birds or converting to organic farming.
The Scottish Government has said it intends to add more environmental conditions to direct payments but the plans for these, so far, are lacking in detail and ambition. It’s not clear they will be enough to really help nature or tackle climate change. Large farms still stand to receive the most money, while crofts and smaller farms that are often already helping nature will continue to receive the least. This system isn’t fair to farmers or to nature and our climate.
Farming’s impact
Figures published in June show that climate emissions from agriculture have risen, making it the second largest source of Scottish emissions. At the end of last year, the Climate Change Committee reported that detail on a low-carbon Scottish agriculture policy was ‘urgently needed’. Intensive methods also make farming a major cause of wildlife declines. For example, wading birds such as curlew and lapwings, wildflowers and hedges, and insects that pollinate crops are all affected by farming methods that aren’t nature-friendly.
The Scottish government has ambitious, legally binding targets to reduce Scotland’s climate emissions. Nature restoration targets are due to be set in the Natural Environment Bill, expected in 2024.
But continuing to direct the majority of public spending on farming to area-based ‘direct payments’ with few or limited environmental conditions attached will make it impossible for Scotland to meet these crucial commitments.
Ambition for the transition
We need a much more ambitious approach. The Farm for Scotland’s Future campaign is calling on the Scottish government to ensure that at least three quarters of public spending on farming supports farmers and crofters to produce food in ways that restore nature and tackle climate change.
Every farm is different, and there are many different things farmers and crofters can do to help achieve these shared goals. To give just a few examples, the new system should provide farmers and crofters with financial support to do things like protecting and restoring peatlands and wetlands, planting trees and hedgerows, creating habitats for threatened species, reducing chemical inputs, and improving access to nature for people.
The new system must also help farmers, crofters and other land managers to work together, and ensure that training and advice are available to them. The transition to sustainable farming will not happen overnight, and it’s essential that the funding system supports farmers and crofters in this process.
Write to Mairi Gougeon
The next couple of months will be crucial for influencing Scottish government decisions on the future of Scottish farming. Please write to Mairi Gougeon calling for a farm funding system that works for nature, climate and people.
Use your own words wherever you can. You could include examples of places in the countryside or farmland wildlife that matter to you. Remember to be polite!
Start your email, ‘Dear Cabinet Secretary’.
Suggested introductory paragraph:
‘I am concerned to learn that the Scottish government has indicated that it intends to continue spending most of its farming budget on ‘direct payments’ to farmers based on how much land they farm, with limited environmental requirements. Continuing to direct public funding in this way will not allow us to address the crises we face.’
Key points to make:
Farming matters to everyone – we rely on farmers and crofters to manage Scotland’s land sustainably as well as producing food.
Broadly replicating the current distribution of public spending on farming, in which most of the money goes to farmers as ‘direct payments’ with limited environmental conditions, will make it impossible to meet the Scottish government’s own climate and nature targets.
The direct payments system also disproportionately benefits a few large landowners, while smaller farms and crofts lose out.
Under the new system, at least three quarters of public spending on farming should support farmers and crofters to produce food in ways that restore nature and tackle climate change.
More than 2,500 people signed the Farm for Scotland’s Future petition calling for this change.
Euan Ross, Scotland manager for the Nature Friendly Farming Network, considers whether the Scottish Government’s draft Agriculture and Rural Communities Bill goes far enough in changing how farmers and crofters will receive support in Scotland.
What is the Agriculture Bill?
In 2020, Scotland passed a bill granting ministers the power to ensure the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) continued, whilst giving the ability to make some simplifications and improvements to the scheme following Brexit.
The Scottish Government then published a Vision for Agriculture in 2022 declaring it will become a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture. This vision is committed to a support framework from 2025 onwards that delivers high-quality food production, climate mitigation and adaptation, nature restoration and rural development.
In trying to realise this vision, the Scottish government has introduced the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill to parliament. This bill is a necessary piece of framework legislation, providing Scottish ministers further control and flexibility to amend the current Common Agriculture Policy.
The policy memorandum notes that the bill is an attempt to move away from the EU’s CAP, whilst staying aligned with the EU on outcomes. As such, this bill is a legislative necessity.
However, the bill is also intended to meet many other desirable outcomes including the transition to net zero farming, mitigating the nature crisis, allowing rural communities to thrive and protecting the rural economy.
These outcomes sound strongly aligned with nature-friendly farming, but does the proposed support mechanism facilitate it?
What is the four-tiered system?
This bill provides some positive signals for the future direction of agriculture. The bill contains four overarching objectives for policy including the adoption and use of sustainable and regenerative agriculture practices, the production of high-quality food, the facilitation of on-farm nature restoration, climate mitigation and adaptation as well as enabling rural communities to thrive.
A new tiered payment system will be used to try and achieve this.
The four-tiered system explained:
Tier 1 (base) and tier 2 (enhanced) will be a form of direct payment:
Tier 1 (base) will be for minimum levels of agricultural activity and minimum standards of environmental stewardship
Tier 2 (enhanced) will be used to incentivise farmers to go beyond the base level of environmental performance, focusing on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, adapting to climate change as well as protecting, restoring and improving nature
Tier 3 (elective) and tier 4 (complementary) will be indirect payments:
Tier 3 (elective) will be for a range of payments for specific nature or climate improvement undertakings.
Tier 4 (complementary) will be delivering access to support and advice as well as continuous professional development. It will also seek to connect farmers and crofters with support for woodland management, tree planting as well as peatland restoration and management.
Alongside this new support mechanism, Scottish ministers will be required to lay before parliament and publish a rural support plan which covers up to a five-year period detailing strategic priorities for providing support.
This shows promising signs, but is it as good as it sounds?
Is the 4-tiered system enough?
As with all legislation, the devil is more often than not hidden in the details. Whilst the Nature Friendly Farming Network supports the move towards a four-tiered payment system, the allocation of funding is inadequate to support farmers and crofters in meeting the goals that the bill sets out. The financial memorandum indicates that the proportion of funding towards direct payments will be kept in line with previous legislation, so the vast majority of funding will be going towards tier 1 and tier 2.
This means that most of the funding will go towards ineffective and inequitable area-based subsidies. As the base tier only requires meeting minimum environmental standards it will be inadequate at encouraging much-needed large-scale shifts to sustainable and regenerative agriculture. Additionally, these area-based payments mean that the largest landowners will be the ones who receive the greatest amounts of funding. It also means that tier 3 is seen as a ‘competitive’ tier due to budget constraints and tier 4 will largely be made up of pre-existing schemes.
“We’re not getting anywhere near the change needed to put the sector on a resilient path. Scotland’s approach to funding seeks to provide stability for a sector which is facing many challenges – but the reality might prove the opposite.”
The NFFN suggests that powers to cap and/or taper base-level payments should begin almost immediately to create more fairness in the system. The funding freed up from this should be redirected to supporting actions that help drive the transition to nature-friendly farming.
Whilst some base-level payments may be necessary for the initial transition, the NFFN recommends that over the next parliament (2026-30) the tier 1 base-level direct payments are moved into tiers 2, 3 and 4. This will provide farmers and crofters with much better, and fairer, means of achieving regenerative agriculture.
To support this direction of travel, NFFN Scotland wants to see a clear and timebound transition period. This will provide farmers and crofters with the reassurance they need, as well as the time to prepare their businesses to transition. To aid with this, NFFN Scotland is calling for a £200m ten-year co-designed, industry partner-led programme of regenerative and agroecological learning, research and development and regional-based peer-to-peer farmer and crofter-led knowledge exchange supported across Scotland (£20 million per annum). These regional farmer and crofter-led cluster groups will be fundamental to the success of the objectives within the vision for agriculture. Projects, such as this, should be a priority, and why increased budget for tier 4 is required.
To ensure the bill’s core focus is in keeping with this, NFFN Scotland is calling for a strong and well-defined purpose clause for the bill committing to such a transformative change in farming, food production and land management. Regular programming periods, a strategic plan for farming and crofting, and ambitious targets should also be used so that farmers have the confidence to reduce input dependency and put the sector on a more profitable path.
Why does this matter for farmers and crofters?
This piece of legislation and future secondary legislation is of key concern to farmers as it determines what form of farming activities will be paid for, and at what rates, in the future. Farmers and crofters are facing increasing pressure to meet a multitude of objectives. As such, they need the support to achieve this. Whilst upfront finance is crucial, the Government should also upscale advisory and educational services to secure a successful transition.
Leaving farmers with an inadequate support system in the transition to nature-friendly farming may mean more are increasingly vulnerable to economic or market shocks, or facing increasing pressure from the press and the public. Most importantly, ensuring farmers are climate resilient is critical to the viability of their own businesses. This has been seen recently in how storm Babet caused serious damage to Scottish farms.
The NFFN strongly believes that farmers and crofters are capable of making rural areas climate-resilient, environmentally regenerative and financially profitable if support is allocated in a way that provides them with the means to deliver it.
“The health of our natural environment is a by-product of how we produce food. In tandem, the state of our farm landscapes dedicates the viability of our food production. We need effective Government support to shift the industry towards farm practices that restore the balance of on-farm ecosystems.”
Why does this matter to the public?
Over £3 billion of taxpayer’s money is set to be spent on agriculture and rural development over the next five years, giving taxpayers the right to choose what food and farming systems their money supports.
We must maintain high-quality food production, but not to the detriment of people’s lived environments. The recent State of Nature Scotland report highlighted the devastating decline of Scotland’s nature. One in nine Scottish species are now threatened with extinction: 15% of all Scottish wildlife has decreased since 1994 and, since 1970, Scotland’s distribution of flowering plants has decreased by 47%.
These statistics are just the tip of the iceberg. But, encouragingly, both the Scottish and UK-wide reports highlight that the future state of nature depends on industries, such as farming, fishing and forestry, adopting nature-friendly approaches.
The health of our natural environment is a by-product of how we produce food, and in tandem, the state of our farm landscapes dedicates the viability of our food production. We need effective Government support to shift the industry towards farm practices that restore the balance of on-farm ecosystems.
The welcomed move towards public money for public goods across the UK not only serves food production; it can deliver nature restoration, flood resilience and climate mitigation, amongst other outcomes. But delivering these public benefits won’t happen without a well-designed payment and support system.
Everyone has a stake in seeing these outcomes realised and now the Scottish Government must live up to its aspirations to become a global leader in regenerative agriculture. If you would like to learn more about the Agriculture Bill, you can find all relevant information here. The explanatory notes offer a useful entry point for understanding more.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this blog are the author’s and do not necessarily represent the views of all the organisations backing the Farm for Scotland’s Future campaign.
As the Agriculture and Rural Communities Bill starts its journey through the Scottish Parliament, RSPB Scotland director Anne McCall offers some thoughts about where agricultural policy needs to go.
Earlier this year I had the pleasure of visiting our farms on Islay. Some people may be surprised to find out that the RSPB actively farms and produces food like any other farmer because a great deal of public debate positions farming and environmental interests as opposites, but we have four farms in Scotland, two of which are on Islay. When we acquired these sites, we didn’t stop the farming activity to make a ‘nature reserve’; we kept on farming because we think it is the best way to achieve our biodiversity objectives. Farming can help deliver positive outcomes for nature.
But clearly while farming can help nature, it can also damage it. There have been big changes in farming since the 1970s with knock on impacts on biodiversity. Farmers have had to grapple with the difficult challenge of how to make a living in a market place where they have small profits and little power and so they have had to change how they farm to stay in business. The unintentional consequence has been that nature has tended to be pushed to the margins.
So, the relationship between farming and nature is complex. While there are negative trends for some species, others are doing well, and while some farming activity can damage nature, it is also true that farming can be essential for the maintenance of biodiversity.
What was obvious on my visit to Islay was just how important policy is for shaping what happens on the ground. Whether it’s the availability of agri-environment schemes or the basic rules around the eligibility of particular types of land for farm funding, policy has a huge impact on the industry and on nature. That’s why the development of a new post-Brexit agricultural policy is so important and why we in the RSPB are so interested in it.
The new Agriculture and Rural Communities Bill that is currently before the Scottish Parliament is an important step in the development of a new policy. It doesn’t provide the detail of what the new framework will look like – that is being developed separately in dialogue with the industry and with stakeholders such as ourselves – rather, it focuses on creating the powers that Ministers will need to implement the new policy.
We will, like other stakeholders, continue to engage with the government on their ideas for the actual policy, but with reference to the Bill I thought I’d point to a few things we have noted and would like to see.
It’s worth saying that some elements are welcome. We welcome the reference to nature restoration, climate mitigation and adaptation in the objectives of agricultural policy and we welcome the proposed Rural Support Plan. We believe this must require the government to set out clearly what schemes and funding it intends to use to meet its objectives and get good value for public money.
We do, however, think there are some things missing. The Bill could include specific targets to reduce the impacts of modern farming. These could be to reduce pesticide use or the use of artificial nitrogen. Or there could be targets to increase organic or High Nature Value farming. There is also a lack of any real requirement to monitor the effectiveness of policy or the outcomes delivered.
The biggest issue, though, is not technically in the Bill and that’s to do with how the government plans to allocate the funding available. The government has acknowledged the challenge of reaching Net Zero and of becoming Nature Positive, but it looks like it does not intend to significantly boost those parts of the budget that can really help deliver those outcomes. There has to be better funding for agri-environment schemes and things like advice, co-operation, training and knowledge exchange.
It’s important to recognise that the government has said a lot of encouraging things and looks like it is trying to take farming policy in a positive direction. But the real test of whether or not the government really means what it says will be reached in the coming months when political decisions about funding, and what schemes and measures to allocate it to, have to be made.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this blog are the author’s and do not necessarily represent the views of all the organisations backing the Farm for Scotland’s Future campaign.
Environment charities have welcomed the publication on Friday of Scotland’s Agriculture and Rural Communities Bill, and have called on the Scottish government to introduce a radical new farm funding system to help the industry reduce climate emissions and restore biodiversity.
The charities, who launched the Farm for Scotland’s Future campaign in 2022 alongside farmers’ groups, want at least three quarters of public spending on farming to support methods that restore nature and tackle climate change as well as producing food.
The Agriculture and Rural Communities Bill will require Ministers to produce a code of practice for ‘sustainable and regenerative agriculture’. But campaigners say that to meet its own targets to cut emissions and restore Scotland’s nature, the Scottish government must shift spending on farming so that it incentivises and supports sustainable farming, and move away from payments per hectare which disproportionately benefit large landowners.
Figures released in June showed that climate emissions from agriculturehave risen to make it Scotland’s second biggest source of emissions. Current methods also make farming a major cause of nature loss.
Deborah Long, chief officer of Scottish Environment LINK, said today:
“Farming and crofting have a vital role to play in tackling climate change and restoring Scotland’s nature, as well as producing food. We need to transform the way Scotland farms, and we need our farm funding system to reflect those expectations.
“The current system was designed for a different era, and it’s woefully inadequate for the challenges we face today. A system that pays people based on the amount of land they farm, and not what they do with it, should be consigned to history.
“A radical new approach is needed to help all farmers and crofters make the transition to sustainable farming and to support the many different ways they can increase biodiversity on farms and reduce emissions.
“The Agriculture and Rural Communities Bill is a welcome step towards creating a better system, and we’re pleased to see the commitment to a Rural Support Plan, which will provide certainty for rural businesses with its programming periods. But the way funding is distributed in the new system will be key. We look forward to engaging with MSPs on this bill to help ensure that the new system supports farming methods that work for nature, climate and people.”
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