Representatives of leading environmental organisations including Scottish Environment LINK and RSPB Scotland have today resigned from the Scottish Government’s farming policy group, saying the urgent need to help farmers and crofters tackle climate change and nature loss is being ignored.
Representatives are standing down from both the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board (ARIOB) and the accompanying Policy Development Group. These bodies were established by Ministers in 2021 to advise on the development of Scottish farming policy following the UK’s departure from the European Union.
Writing to the First Minister, the charities cite the failure of the process to deliver meaningful reform and frustration at the policy decisions being taken, highlighting that the process is not genuine co-design, the group appears set up to fail, and the decisions made are unlikely to achieve the Government’s own sustainable farming goals. They say overwhelming evidence pointing to the need for a major overhaul of farm support payments is being overlooked.
Scottish Environment LINK, Stop Climate Chaos Scotland and RSPB Scotland, together representing thousands of people across Scotland, have called consistently for a more ambitious approach to agriculture policy, and faster progress towards a just transition. They want the majority of farm funding to be allocated to helping farmers and crofters take action for nature and climate, supporting them to collaborate and build supply chains, and facilitating advice, training and knowledge transfer initiatives. At present, most farm funding is in the form of base support payments which disproportionately benefit larger farms with better quality land.
In the letter to the First Minister, Scottish Environment LINK, RSPB Scotland and Farming for 1.5 point to the need for the next government, post election, to draw a line under the failed policy development process and to start again.
Deborah Long, Chief Executive of Scottish Environment LINK said:
“Our representative, Pete Ritchie of Nourish Scotland, has contributed to ARIOB meetings since the start and engaged constructively. ARIOB is presented externally as an effective co-design process where views are taken into account and fed into the decision-making process. We see little evidence of this. We are no longer willing to participate in a process in which we do not have confidence. There is no clear sequencing of agendas and discussions, timelines remain uncertain and evidence seems to be being ignored in subsequent policy decisions taken.”
Mike Robinson, Chair of Stop Climate Chaos Scotland and ARIOB member as previous Chair of Farming for 1.5, said:
“We support the Scottish Government’s vision for sustainable and regenerative agriculture and its stated commitment to tackling climate change and nature loss through action to reform farming and land use. Sadly, the farming policy it is bringing forward is not fit for purpose and will not achieve what it needs to. The system is broken and needs a major overhaul. Climate change and nature loss are already affecting food production and farm businesses. Ensuring a just transition for farmers and crofters is essential in this process but this cannot be used as an excuse for such slow progress.”
Vicki Swales, Head of Land Use Policy at RSPB Scotland, is a member of the policy development group that works alongside ARIOB.
She said:
“The whole process has been one of constant frustration and shifting sands. The Scottish Government failed to establish some important baseline evidence at the start, for example the scale of the environmental and food production challenges, the type of solutions required, and the principles that should guide its expenditure of £650 million of public money annually. Without a clear sense of what it is trying to do and where it is trying to get to in policy terms, it is constantly losing its way and making unhelpful decisions.
“Farming has an essential role to play in responding to the nature and climate crisis. But currently, just 5% of public funding for agriculture is spent on nature and climate friendly farming. Many farmers and crofters want to do more to help nature, but they are being let down by the current system and the way decisions are being made.”
Letter to First Minister on resignation from ARIOB and PDG here
Briefing on E-NGO decision to withdraw from ARIOB and the PDG here