Members of Scottish Environment LINK have called on the Scottish government to uphold requirements for farmers to meet environmental regulations, following calls from NFU Scotland to remove or weaken many of those requirements.
NFU Scotland asked the Scottish government this week to suspend, allow derogations from, or review various environmental rules and regulations that apply to farming, citing ‘sustained cold and wet weather’.
In response Pete Ritchie, convenor of Scottish Environment LINK’s food and farming group, has written to Mairi Gougeon, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands:
‘To respond positively to such calls would, in our view, have the effect of undermining, not securing, the future of food production given the dependence of crop and livestock production on a healthy natural environment and a stable climate. It would put your vision of sustainable and regenerative agriculture in jeopardy.’
The Farm for Scotland’s Future campaign, launch by Scottish Environment LINK members and farmers’ groups, calls on the Scottish government to bring in a new farm funding system that helps all farmers and crofters produce food in ways that help restore nature and tackle climate change, and supports them in then transition to sustainable farming.