The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Scottish farming can lead the way in positive thinking and sustainability
As Brexit uncertainty rumbles on, Scottish farmers need to stay flexible and focus on promoting Scotland as the home of climate-friendly food production
If ever there was a year for farmers to stay nimble on their feet it is this one.
Doing the same as always is not going to be a great option for a number of reasons.
Brexit, although not a word Boris Johnson allows to be uttered anywhere in the corridors of power, has come several steps closer to reality as we move into 2020. This is “transition year” although transition to what is still a mystery.
Government support will stay the same but it will be different for markets. The prime minister has now said that he wants a trade deal with the EU to be in place by the end of June.
If it is not he will set the government on course for a no-deal or, as he confusingly calls it, an Australia style deal. (There is no such thing, as he well knows.)
The timetable might be about right though. Unless an EU deal is decided in essence by mid-summer there will be no time for it to be ratified by all 27 EU Member States, by Brussels itself and by the UK Parliament before the end of December.
It matters to farmers, of course, because it means everything they produce in 2020 will come to market under some new regime. We will have to take it on the chin this time simply because there is no time to change tack.
All that is quite daunting but to complicate matters further there are the challenges posed by the anti-meat eating lobby. The onslaught in recent months has been pretty relentless and the defence under the shock of attack has been piecemeal.
That is until now. A couple of the spring conferences, particularly Quality Meat Scotland’s Meat the Future day in Glasgow (February 25), have shown the undeniable signs of a fightback.
The positive case for red meat production in Scotland is taking shape as everyone begins to understand the
science better. There were more than 400 people from the farming and processing sectors at the Glasgow conference and as the day wore on it became clear none were in favour of throwing in the towel. In fact there was quite a lot of confidence.
James Withers, chief executive of Scotland Food and Drink – never knowingly a pessimist – said: “If the argument is about red meat in a climate emergency, bring it on!
“What a story we have to tell in Scotland. The message could be ‘eat less, but eat better.’ We should be seen as the home of climate-friendly food production.”
Good positive stuff but actually other speakers at the conference were able to back him up with good science.
It is all about rediscovering the carbon cycle, as taught to us all at school and then applying the complexities which have so far been missing from the debate. Gaining proper credit for the carbon sequestrated in Scottish crops, grassland and soils would be helpful for a start.
Belgian scientist Frederic Leroy reminded his audience that the much castigated methane emissions from cattle recycle in a few short years into the carbon dioxide which fuels the photosynthesis in plants which ultimately produces the animal or plant carbohydrates which keep us all alive.
On a lighter note he pointed out that meat-eating critic and American chat show hostess Oprah Winfrey has an estimated carbon footprint 140 times greater than the average American largely due to the number of flights she takes in a year.
UK sustainable agriculture consultant Dr Jude Capper produced even more figures. For example it needs only 133 litres of water to produce 1kg of British beef. This compares with 3,682 litres for the same weight of US beef. The difference comes mostly from the heavy use of irrigation Stateside.
There were plenty more facts like this but the point is that only now are the scientists marshalling them in useable form.
The task is now for the farming industry to become familiar with this positive story and then become good at telling it.
It beats just being very annoyed with everyone all the time.