RSPB Scotland’s farming activity
Farming and crofting have a vital role to play in halting and reversing biodiversity loss in Scotland. In this blog Gabija Dragunaite, RSPB Scotland's Policy Assistant, and Andrew Midgley, Senior Land Use Policy Officer, emphasise this point by outlining some of the RSPB’s own farming activity.
An in-depth look at the potential of Scotland’s farm payments to help tackle the nature and climate crisis
We know agriculture is the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Scotland, and with around 80% of Scotland’s land classified as agricultural, the sector plays a key role in both halting biodiversity loss and meeting the country’s net zero targets. We also know many farmers want support to help achieve these goals.
Ask the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves to invest now in nature friendly farming
As the UK government's budget announcement draws close, RSPB Scotland director Anne McCall sets out why it's vital that Chancellor Rachel Reeves invests in nature friendly farming and ensures Scotland has the funds it needs.
Environmental charities urge government to incentivise farmers and crofters to do more for nature and the climate
A coalition of environmental charities are calling for the Scottish government to allocate the money in its new farm funding system in a way which encourages farmers and crofters to adopt climate and nature-friendly practices. This comes in response to a consultation from the Agriculture Reform Implementation Oversight Board (ARIOB), a Scottish government group supporting […]
Farm for Scotland’s Future: what we achieved
A look at what our campaign achieved, what the Agriculture and Rural Communities Bill means, and what still needs to change to help Scotland’s farmers and crofters to farm sustainably.
Campaigners call for action on sustainable farming as Agriculture Bill passed
Campaigners have renewed calls for the Scottish government to deliver sustainable farming, as the Agriculture and Rural Communities Bill passed into law yesterday evening.
Letter to Mairi Gougeon on farming’s contribution to Net Zero
On 2 May, 21 organisations wrote to Mairi Gougeon, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and Islands, calling for a marked increase in the pace and scope of change in Scotland's farm support system, to enable farming to meaningfully contribute to Scotland reaching Net Zero.
Environmental requirements for farming must be upheld
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.
Scottish government must do more to reduce farming emissions to meet Net Zero
Scottish Environment LINK members have called on the Scottish government to do more to cut emissions from farming following today’s announcement that the government will weaken its 2030 climate targets.
MSPs call for changes to Agriculture and Rural Communities Bill
This week the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee published its report on the Agriculture and Rural Communities Bill. The report echoed many of the proposals made by Scottish Environment LINK members and shared by other organisations.
Farm for Scotland’s Future: talking about farming and crofting
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 Minister’s funding announcement ‘a small step but not enough to deliver sustainable agriculture’
First Minister Humza Yousaf announced new 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.
Campaigners call for nature and climate friendly farm funding
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.
Campaigners slam budget cuts for nature and climate friendly farming
The Farm for Scotland’s Future campaign has said the £6.2 million, or 17%, cut to Scotland’s Agri-Environment Climate Scheme makes a mockery of the Scottish government’s ambition for Scotland to become a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture.
Scottish Government must take independent advice on new farm funding scheme, say campaigners
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.
Farm funding plan must change to meet climate and nature targets, say campaigners
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.
Write to Mairi Gougeon: 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.
Is Scotland’s Agriculture Bill what nature-friendly farming needs?
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.
We need agriculture policy to work for, not against, nature
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.
Environment charities welcome Agriculture and Rural Communities Bill and call for radical change to farm funding
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.
Action to Protect Rural Scotland: Help farmers restore our wildlife-rich agricultural landscapes
We can have a future for Scotland’s farmers that also benefits wildlife and the people that enjoy our countryside, says Kat Jones, director of Action to Protect Rural Scotland.
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How to talk to your MSP about the Agriculture Bill
It's vital that MSPs hear their constituents calling for an Agriculture Bill that works for nature, climate and people. Watch our webinar and read our guide on speaking to your MSP about the bill.
Scottish Badgers: Farmers can help ‘ecosystem engineer’ badgers contribute to nature restoration
Larger wild mammals function as the glue that holds everything else in nature together, important for farming and breathing life into vital processes to that keep the people of Scotland fed and the land habitable, says Dr Elspeth Stirling.
How Scotland’s Agriculture Bill must work for nature, climate and people
Members of Scottish Environment LINK’s Food and Farming group have set out in a briefing for MSPs what the Scottish government’s Agriculture Bill, expected this autumn, must contain in order to help make farming work for nature, climate and people.
RSPB Scotland: Why nature must be at the heart of farming
Farmers and crofters are a critical part of the solutions to tackle climate change, and to protect and restore nature. Many are already taking vital steps to farm in nature friendly ways. Changing the way that the farming funding system operates, and putting nature at its heart, will help to save nature and climate.
Butterfly Conservation: Farming is uniquely placed to enhance biodiversity
An Agriculture Bill that delivers for biodiversity is an opportunity to shatter the illusion of the dichotomy between nature conservation and productive farming, creating a genuinely sustainable and just system that works for our entire environment, says Kieran Thomas.
Froglife: Farmland management should be sensitive to reptiles and amphibians
Good quality ponds, especially warm ones, are vital breeding habitats for amphibians in the spring, when spawn and tadpoles will be using them to develop into adults. Often farm ponds suffer from agricultural run-off - but there are practical measures farmers can take to address this.
Rare Breeds Survival Trust: Grazing with native breeds can help maintain natural habitats
Native breeds should be seen as crucial in bringing greater sustainability to modern farming and land management practices, and government policy and funding should reflect this, says Steve McMinn.
Highland Good Food Partnership: We need a system that supports small scale producers and shorter supply chains
A thriving agricultural sector, embracing a diversity of scales and types of farming and crofting across the whole Highlands, is vital to achieve a Good Food Future, says Helen O'Keefe.
Compassion in World Farming: Sustainable farming and higher animal welfare go hand in hand
Nature-friendly and sustainable farming practices go hand-in-hand with higher farm animal welfare, says the charity Compassion in World Farming. By transitioning away from industrial livestock monocultures and towards extensive, regenerative systems, higher-welfare farming reduces stocking densities and reintegrates animals with the land.
Scottish farming needs help to reduce its stubbornly high greenhouse gas emissions
Food production requires more than a farmer with a field. Farming depends on the wider environment – healthy soils, populations of pollinators, and climatic conditions suitable for growing crops. There is no food security without a stable climate and healthy natural environment.
WATCH: Johnnie Balfour, Balbirnie Home Farms
We spoke with Johnnie Balfour from Balbirnie Home Farms in Fife about the way his farming is evolving to be better for nature and the climate, about some of the problems with Scotland’s current farm funding system, and about what he would like the new system to do.
Campaigners say rise in farm emissions makes case for radical change in Agriculture Bill
The Scottish Government must commit to a radical new system of farm funding to deal with climate change, environmental campaigners have said. The call comes after new figures show that climate emissions from agriculture have risen to become the second largest source of Scottish emissions.
Farming to save our wild isles
Many of Scotland's farmers are changing the way they farm, to allow nature back and to reduce climate emissions. They are the trailblazers, and what they are doing matters to us all.
Maintaining healthy, biodiverse agricultural soils and protecting the underground livestock
Research has estimated that in excess of a quarter of all species on Earth exist in soils. Ranging from tiny bacteria to large burrowing earthworms, this ‘underground livestock’ needs to remain biodiverse.
Imagining a meadow-filled future
Healthy soils of species-rich grasslands are full of abundance and diversity of microbes, mycorrhizal fungi and invertebrates, such as earthworms, that facilitate greater carbon sequestration and storage.
Sharing knowledge, sharing meals: a peer-to-peer learning approach to agroecology
While financial support for food producers in the transition is critical, support for farmers to meet, learn from each other, share advice and work in partnership, is just as essential. We need peer-to-peer knowledge exchange that supports farmers to try out new things.
Supporting High Nature Value farming and crofting is the right thing for Scottish agriculture
We need food. We need farmers. We need farmers to keep farming and managing the land. Let’s just get that out there straight away. This needs to be said because food production is often pitted against environmental recovery. But these things don’t oppose each other, we need both.
New report reveals Scottish farming must adapt to reflect climate change and nature loss
The way we fund our farms is making climate change worse and risks our food security, according to a significant new report - which campaigners say makes the case for a radical approach to the upcoming Agriculture Bill.
More, bigger, better and more joined up grasslands along B-Lines
We still have flower-rich machair grasslands, and the abundance of species they support, today thanks to 5,500 years of non-intensive farming without the use of pesticides. We need a farm funding system that helps more farmers create wildflower-rich habitats.
Organic farming can help tackle the nature and climate crises
Research has shown that organic farming can reduce global greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, increase on-farm biodiversity by 30%, and reduce soil erosion by 22%. Organic farms have also been shown to sequester and store significantly more carbon (44%).
Why we must reform farm funding to save our Wild Isles
The latest episode of David Attenborough’s epic TV series, Wild Isles, has highlighted the importance of managing farmland with nature in mind. In this blog, Vicki Swales explains the opportunity we have in Scotland to move towards more nature- and climate-friendly farming.
WATCH: Farm for Scotland’s Future webinar
Watch the video of our Farm for Scotland's Future webinar to find out more about why farming is crucial to restoring Scotland’s nature and tackling climate change, and why we need a new funding system to help all farmers and crofters make the transition to sustainable farming.
Dear Cabinet Secretary, farming matters to Scotland’s people
Today members of Scottish Environment LINK’s Farm for Scotland’s Future campaign presented Mairi Gougeon, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands, with a petition calling for a new farm funding system that works for nature, climate, and people.
Letter to Mairi Gougeon following the Climate Change Committee report
On 9 December, 28 organisations wrote to Mairi Gougeon, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands, following the publication of the Climate Change Committee's ‘Progress in reducing emissions in Scotland’ report.
Farming isn’t the problem. It’s part of the solution.
A growing number of farmers and crofters are already working with nature and climate in mind by keeping their soils healthy, planting trees, and making space for wildlife but these farmers and crofters need more support.
Farming for a world richer in nature
Over the decades, agriculture policy has focussed primarily on food production with nature and the climate side-lined. But with so much agricultural land, there’s enormous potential to redress this and create a more harmonious relationship.
Scotland’s new Agriculture Bill: making the most of grasslands for nature, climate, and people
Healthy, semi-natural grasslands are thriving ecosystems, where thousands of different wild plants over millennia have co-evolved alongside farmers managing the land as hay meadows and grazing pasture.
Public spending on farming should benefit everyone
If Scotland can create a farm funding system that works for all farmers and crofters, for people and for the planet, we will have made a major investment in our future.
Make your voice heard on the future of farming and the environment
The Scottish government is consulting on its proposals for a new Agriculture Bill. Here's how you can respond to the consultation.
The natural world is under threat like never before
When was the last time you encountered a hedgehog? Or spotted a murmuration of starlings in a pink sky? The natural world as we once knew it is under threat like never before as the latest global science shows.
Support farmers in the transition to sustainable farming
Scottish agriculture is in a pivotal moment, with a once in a generation opportunity to make farming work better for our environment and people in Scotland.
Why changing farm funding is key to tackling Scotland’s nature crisis
By shifting the focus of funding to be nature and climate positive, we can ensure farmers and crofters are able to produce food and provide employment in a way that is genuinely sustainable.
Farm funding in Scotland – past, present and future
It’s fair to say that many of us in Scotland feel a deep affinity with farming and the landscapes and cultures it creates. However, the policy and the public money that supports the majority of farming isn’t well understood.
Scotland must plan for a just transition for farming
Scotland’s land and how we use it is hugely important in our fight against climate change and nature loss. Given that agriculture is Scotland’s main land use, Scottish farmers and crofters are key actors in making sure we reach climate change targets, restore nature, and produce food sustainably.
Let’s better support farmers to keep Scotland’s nature – and people – healthy
The Covid pandemic has shone an intense light upon the value of local farmland and greenspaces to nearby communities. It’s now clearer than ever that spending time in the countryside is vital to our health and wellbeing.
Integrating trees with farming and crofting
Trees on farms can regulate growing conditions benefiting crops and animals, provide shelter from wind and rain, regulate soil temperature, support important populations of pollinators, enhance water conservation, reduce soil erosion, and enrich soil fertility.
Farming can be part of the solution to the nature and climate emergency
Farming in Scotland is important. It is an industry vital to our future which provides us with food, supports a rural workforce and underpins our food and drinks industry. However, we must also acknowledge the huge impacts that farming in Scotland has on nature.
Letter to Cabinet Secretary: 24 environment charities join with farmers’ groups to launch Farm for Scotland’s Future campaign
On 20 June, Scottish Environment LINK wrote to the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands, announcing the launch by 24 environment charities of the Farm for Scotland’s Future campaign.
Farm for Scotland’s Future campaign launched to make farming work for nature, climate and people
Today 24 environment charities, members of Scottish Environment LINK, are launching the Farm for Scotland’s Future campaign calling for a farm funding system that works for nature, climate and people.
